Aryna Sabalenka once spoke about her admiration for the 23-time Grand Slam champion, Serena Williams. She revealed that she grew up watching Williams’ matches. Reflecting more of her admiration for the American during one of her interviews at the 2024 WTA Finals, Sabalenka said, “I always wanted to dominate the tour like Serena (Williams) did, like Iga was able to do for so long.” She believes the style of her game quite rightly matches someone like Williams. But talking about domination, Sabalenka has now secured a bagel against the four-time French Open champion, Iga Swiatek. She defeated the Pole by 7-6(1),4-6,6-0 in the epic SF clash at the Philippe-Chatrier. With this incredible victory against the defending champion, Sabalenka has now also matched Serena Williams’ record. What’s it?

Well, with her win against Swiatek, the Belarusian tennis star has not only taken her H2H record to 5-8 against the Pole, but she has now also become the first woman to reach the final at three consecutive major tournaments since Serena Williams in 2016. Staggering, isn’t it? With this win, Sabalenka has now also become the first woman to win a 6-0 set against Iga Swiatek on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

What are the other records that Sabalenka has broken after this match? Aryna Sabalenka now also becomes the player with the most women’s singles Grand Slam finals this decade and also the third player in the 2000s to reach multiple women’s singles Grand Slam finals for 3+ consecutive years after Venus Williams (2000-2003) and Serena Williams (2008-2010). Owing to her relentless chase for excellence, no matter what she does, she often finds people drawing a comparison between her with Serena. What does Sabalenka have to say on this?

Just a few months ago, she dismissed a comparison between her and Serena Williams. She said, “I don’t know. I don’t think about that. That sounds good, you know? I don’t know. I’m not thinking about that. I’m not focusing on that. I’m just focusing on improving myself and getting better every day. Yeah, that’s it. I’m not really thinking about that. It sounds crazy, and it sounds good to be really strong.”

Talking about her powerful style of play, after her QF match against Qinwen Zheng, she was asked if she had ever faced an opponent who was more powerful than her. In reply to that, Aryna Sabalenka said, “I don’t think I’ve ever played someone who is more powerful than me. And honestly, I don’t care if the player is gonna go out there and try to outhit me or if they’re gonna try to change the rhythm and make me move and run.” After hearing her comments about not being overpowered by anyone, she was asked if that theory also applies to her match against Serena Williams at the 2021 AO. 

“I think that she wasn’t really more powerful than me in that match. But physically, she was better than me and she put more balls back on my side than I did. I didn’t really feel like she overpowered me in that game,” she said in reply. Williams won three French Open titles (2002,2013,2015) in her career, but Aryna Sabalenka has yet to open her account at Roland Garros. What was her reaction after ending Iga Swiatek’s 26-match winning streak at this tournament?

“Job is not done yet” – Aryna Sabalenka has bigger goals at the 2025 French Open

Over the years, Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka have established themselves as two of the most dominant forces in women’s tennis. The 27-year-old Belarusian has won three Grand Slam titles in her career, but all three of them have come on hard courts. This is now her best record at the French Open! On the other hand, although Iga Swiatek is three years younger than Sabalenka, she already has five Grand Slam titles in her bag, and four of them came on Parisian clay. Both these players have dominated the top two spots in the WTA Rankings for most of the last two years. What do they have to say about their intense rivalry?

Aryna Sabalenka once said, “I mean, I love having this competition and I love seeing her in the draw. Yeah, I love to, like, get to the finals and face her in the finals. It’s always great battles. I always enjoy fights against her.” She claims that Iga Swiatek motivates her to improve and get better at multiple things. Even Swiatek also shared a similar thought, saying, “For sure, when we play against each other, I feel like it’s a challenge. I think it’s also pushing me to become better and better player, so I think we both kind of need each other to grow.”

Even before this faceoff at the French Open, Aryna Sabalenka spoke about how she’s always excited to face strong opponents like Swiatek. With this win, she will now play her first final at Roland Garros, and this was her 48th win against the Top 10. What did Sabalenka say after the match? 

“I’m thrilled. It was an incredible match. Tricky in the beginning. Super glad I found my serve. The 3rd set… oh my god… to win a set against Iga 6-0 on the clay. It’s like something out of mind. I’m super happy right now. But the job isn’t done. I will make sure to bring my best tennis and best fighting spirit on Saturday.“

Having said that, she also mentioned, “Iga is the toughest opponent, especially at Roland Garros, I’m proud I managed to get this win.” Next up for her will be either Coco Gauff or the crowd favorite, Lois Boisson. Do you think Sabalenka has a good chance of winning the title this year?