Iga Swiatek blazes past Aryna Sabalenka to reach Italian Open final

Iga Swiatek of Poland serves to Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus during their semifinal match at the Internazionali BNL D'Italia tennis tournament. Swaitek won 6-2, 6-1 over Savalenka. (Antonietta Baldassarre/Insidefoto/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Iga Swiatek has extended her winning streak to 27 matches, downing No. 8 Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-1 Saturday to reach the Italian Open final.

The World No. 1 is now tied with Serena Williams for the fourth-longest winning streak of the century, with the American registering 27 consecutive wins between the 2014 WTA Finals and Madrid in 2015.

Winning 40 of her last 41 sets, Swiatek has dropped just 17 games to reach the final in Rome as part of a historically dominant start to the season.

Mamma mia!! 😮@iga_swiatek | #IBI22 pic.twitter.com/Q9tMryt3Wt
— wta (@WTA) May 14, 2022

“At these tournaments where we play day after day, we don’t really get time to celebrate,” Swiatek said of her achievement. “Right after we finish the previous match, we have to think about the next one. It’s pretty tough. But I know that after I’m going to be really proud of myself. For sure I’m going to have time to think about what I did.”

The Internazionali BNL d’Italia title match marks Swiatek’s fifth consecutive final, with the 20-year-old looking for her eighth career championship.

Swiatek will play the winner of the semifinal between Ons Jabeurand Daria Kasatkina on Sunday in the Italian Open final.