Semi-final preview: Swiatek vs Gauff – Roland-Garros

“Look, she’s obviously No.1 in the world, and she won this tournament three times already,” Gauff said calmly. “I think, for me, I’m just going in with confidence.

“When I played her in Cincinnati, I didn’t go into the match thinking, ‘Oh, I’ve never beaten her before, never taken a set off of her’. I have nothing to lose. All the pressure is on her.”

Gauff is talking a good fight but putting that positive energy into action on Court Philippe-Chatrier will take some doing. Yet it is the American’s ever-improving mental strength that Swiatek has noted in the past couple of years.

She is impressed. She still keeps beating Gauff but she is impressed nonetheless.