By Karolos Grohmann
PARIS (Reuters) – American teenager Coco Gauff crushed Italy’s Martina Trevisan 6-3 6-1 on Thursday to become the youngest French Open finalist in 21 years and set up a showcase clash with world number one Iga Swiatek.
The 18-year-old, who was already in unknown Grand Slam territory with her first semi-final spot, will next face Polish top seed Swiatek, who cruised into Saturday’s final with a 6-2 6-1 demolition of Russian Daria Kasatkina to stretch her winning run to 34 matches.
Gauff, who has yet to drop a set in the tournament and is the youngest finalist at any Grand Slam in 18 years, needed time to find her range, trading two early breaks each with Trevisan.
Once she found a way to neutralise the left-hander’s punishing forehand, however, Gauff breezed through the first set by winning the last three games.
The 28-year-old Trevisan, bidding to become the lowest ranked finalist in the event’s history, took a medical break to strap up her right calf.
But things just got worse for her as she piled up 35 errors by the middle of the second set.
Ranked 23rd in the world, Gauff broke her again in a game lasting 14 minutes to go 3-1 up and never looked back, sealing her biggest career win on her first match point.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann, editing by Ed Osmond)
