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COMICS Friday 9 OctOber 2020
Kenin, 21, will face unseeded Swiatek, 19, in French final

AP Sports Writers 1 seed Simona Halep 6-1,
PARIS (AP) — Sofia Kenin 6-2 in the fourth round, after
entered 2020 with an 11-11 defeating 2019 runner-up
record in Grand Slam ac- Marketa Vondrousova by
tion. She never had made the same score in the first.
the quarterfinals at any Swiatek (pronounced sh-
clay-court tournament un- vee-ON'-tek) has been
til this trip to Roland Garros on the rise, and the tennis
— and lost her only tuneup world's radar, for a couple
match on the surface 6-0, of years now.
6-0 last month. In 2018, she won the Wim-
Iga Swiatek is just 19. She's bledon junior singles title
ranked 54th. She's never and the French Open junior
won a tour-level title of any doubles title (with Coco
sort. She'd never before Gauff's current partner,
been past the fourth round Caty McNally).
at a major tournament. Now Swiatek is chasing
Look at the two of them a unique two-fer in Paris:
now — French Open final- She's made it into the dou-
ists. bles semifinals with Ameri-
Already the owner of a ma- can Nicole Melichar, too,
jor trophy from this year's giving her a chance to be-
Australian Open, the No. come the first player since
4-seeded Kenin moved into Sofia Kenin of the U.S. clenches her fist after scoring a point against Petra Kvitova of the Czech Re- Mary Pierce in 2000 to win
the title match in Paris by public in the semifinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium the women's singles and
beating No. 7 Petra Kvitova in Paris, France, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020. doubles trophies in Paris.
6-4, 7-5 on Thursday. Associated Press Swiatek does it by picking
"My mentality has obviously up balls early and smack-
changed," said Kenin, who qualifier Nadia Podoroska. where a ball was headed When Swiatek's 70-minute ing groundstrokes with thick
said she derived a boost "It seems unreal," Swiatek and use her speed to track tour de force ended before topspin. Her power was too
of confidence from upset- said. "On one hand, I know it down, repeatedly stretch- a crowd in the hundreds much for Podoroska, ac-
ting Serena Williams at Ro- that I can play great tennis. ing points that seemed lost. at Court Philippe Chatrier counting for a 23-6 margin
land Garros a year ago. "I On the other hand, it's kind Eventually, that appeared — there is a daily limit on in winners
feel like I should be getting of surprising for me." to make Kvitova play as if spectators because of the Another key to success for
deep in a tournament, but She has won all 12 sets she's she felt that she needed coronavirus pandemic — Swiatek, whose father was
try not to put pressure on played in the tournament, to try to do more, maybe she asked for more noise, an Olympic rower, is her re-
myself." dropping merely 23 games. do too much, because waving her arms and cup- turning ability. She entered
The 21-year-old Ameri- Kvitova, a two-time Wim- she would cut off points ping a hand to her ear. this contest averaging 5.4
can will carry a 16-1 mark bledon champion, came in early by attempting to end Swiatek vs. Podoroska was breaks per match and
in Grand Slam action this having won every set, too. them — and, too often, she the first women's semifinal added five more to the to-
season into Saturday's But as Kenin put it: "I mean, would miss the mark. at Roland Garros between tal.
matchup against Poland's that obviously doesn't By the end, Kvitova pro- unseeded opponents since And then there's a less-
Swiatek. mean anything if I'm play- duced 31 unforced errors, 1983 — and only one, Swi- measurable factor: Swi-
"I'm going to be, like, an ing well." to 20 for Kenin, whose shouts atek, truly seemed ready atek's competitiveness. The
'underdog,'" Swiatek said, The lefty from the Czech of "Come on!" grew louder for the stage. one time she lost a service
using her fingers to make Republic had grabbed as the end grew closer. Her Podoroska is ranked 131st, game, making it 4-1 in the
air quotes. 77% of her service games intensity also came through the first female qualifier in second set, she swiped at
Maybe. On the other hand, in the tournament, before when she chucked her red- the professional era to get the dirt near the baseline
consider how dominant Kenin stole two of the first white-and-blue racket. to the final four in Paris. with her racket.
she has been along the three. Part of it was strong "I mean, obviously I felt like Just in case someone might Then she buckled down
way to becoming the low- returning. More of it was the I could not overpower her. get the idea this was a fluke and broke right back.
est-ranked women's finalist manner in which Kenin was I knew I just needed to ad- for Swiatek, who listens to "I'm staying super focused.
at Roland Garros since the pushing Kvitova around on just my game," Kenin said. "Welcome to the Jungle" by I'm, like, not letting my op-
WTA computer rankings a breezy late afternoon, "I had to control the points, Guns N' Roses in her head- ponents play their best ten-
began in 1975. Her latest pinning her to the baseline. move her, dictate, try not phones before stepping nis," Swiatek said. "So I hope
lopsided win was via a 6-2, Also working in Kenin's fa- to give her short balls, try to out on court: She eliminat- I'm going to do that on
6-1 score against Argentine vor was an ability to sense have a good serve." ed 2018 champion and No. Saturday."q
Earthquakes beat Whitecaps 3-0 for third straight win

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — Cristian Espinoza Rose was shown his second yellow card and the SuperDraft, scored his first MLS goal in the third
scored, James Marcinkowski recorded his sec- Whitecaps played the rest of the way a man minute of stoppage time to cap the scoring.
ond career shutout, and the San Jose Earth- down. Érik Godoy was then shown a straight Vancouver (5-11-0) has lost four games in a row.
quakes beat the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-0 on red card in the 75th minute. San Jose had 66% possession and outshot the
Wednesday night for their third straight win. Andrés Ríos ran onto a well-played cross by Whitecaps 17-7. q
Espinoza took a pass from Nick Lima at the top Carlos Fierro and scored on a sliding first-timer
of the area, did a pirouette to evade two de- to give San Jose (5-6-5) a 2-0 lead in the 66th
fenders and slipped a side-netter inside the far minute. Ríos has scored in back-to-back games
post to open the scoring in the 50th minute. for the first time in his MLS career.
About three minutes later, Vancouver's Andy Paul Marie, the No. 12 overall pick in 2018 MLS