Teenager Swiatek to face Kenin in French Open final

Polish teenager Iga Swiatek became the youngest player to reach the French Open women’s final in 19 years, continuing her bulldozing run at Roland Garros with a 6-2, 6-1 dismantling of Argentine qualifier Nadia Podoroska.

Swiatek, 19, will play Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin in her first Grand Slam final on Saturday.

World No 131 Podoroska, who was looking to become the first qualifier to reach a major final in men’s or women’s singles, had no answer to Swiatek’s powerful groundstrokes and sleek movement.

Swiatek broke serve 27 times en route to the last four. She added five more before finishing off the one-sided contest in 69 minutes.

“I’m kind of surprised, really. I always knew that if I would be in a Grand Slam final, it would be at the French Open,” Swiatek said after becoming the first Polish woman to reach the Roland Garros final in 81 years.

“I wanted to play this match as a first- round match, I didn’t want to think of it as a semi-final otherwise I would have been too stressed. I just wanted to be aggressive like previously. I’m feeling good, like nothing hurts me.”

Swiatek, the youngest player to reach the women’s final at Roland Garros since Kim Clijsters in 2001, looked to impose herself on the match early and jumped to a 3-0 lead.

She managed to hit through the court well, both off the forehand and backhand, and painted the red clay with winners. She amassed 23 in another typical performance at a tournament in which she also snapped top seed Simona Halep’s 17-match winning run. The Pole lost only 23 games in six matches.