After once being considered one of the top young prospects in all of tennis, Caroline Garcia says she feels like she is finally prepared to handle everything that is required to deliver on the biggest stages.
In her toughest matchup of the tournament so far, the Frenchwoman was emphatic as she comfortably handled rising star Coco Gauff 6-3 6-4 in Tuesday's quarter-final.
Garcia, 28, shot onto the international stage when she was impressive before ultimately losing to Maria Sharapova back in 2011 when she was just 17 years old.
At the time, Andy Murray tweeted that she would be a future world number one, and she appeared to be on that path when she peaked at fourth in the world in 2018, before a couple of rough years had her residing outside of the top 50.
Now in career-best form, Garcia has 31 wins from her past 35 matches, including 13 wins in a row and six straight-sets victories on the trot.
Speaking to the media after her quarter-final triumph, Garcia said the long, winding journey to this point has only given her valuable experience.
"When it was 2011 after the Sharapova match, it was a lot of pressure coming from actually nowhere," she said. "I was 150, 200 in the world, 17 years old. My game was not ready.
"I was not able to play that consistent, this kind of level. The weeks after I went back trying to play the same level, but it was not possible for me.
"It was tough because people were expecting a lot. But the game, I was not ready for anything like that. It took me some time to come step-by-step to the top.
"End of 2017, 2018 was a great year, a lot of success. Yeah, I made some mistakes. We made some mistakes. I really hope and think we can learn from it.
"Now, it's a new year, trying to learn from every challenge. I think I've grown up a lot with all the challenges on and off court. Off court, it's very important to manage all of it."
Touching on what has clicked in her recent run, Garcia said she has figured out what works for her, which has simplified everything.
"I'm just trying to focus on my game, on what I like to do, and how is the best way for me to play tennis," she said.
"The path is very clear right now, which direction I have to go, under stress, under pressure. I'm just trying to follow this path. That's how we prepare with the team. We try to do the best we can in this direction.
"It was not that clear in the past. It was not that clear. I mean, I've always been very aggressive. I always try to put the pressure on the other one to be on the court.
"But I was younger… and now [I can] accept that it's actually the only way for me. So if I want to do good, I have to go that way. Yeah, now it's way more clear.
"Obviously with a lot of wins, I'm having fun playing. I can see so many things I can still improve, so it's a great challenge for our team."
Garcia will play world number five Ons Jabeur in the semi-final, with Jabeur winning both of their two previous matches since turning professional.
Zverev ends Tabilo's dream run to reach Italian Open final
Alexander Zverev fought back from the brink to reach the Italian Open final on Friday, overcoming Alejandro Tabilo by a 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-2 scoreline in the last four.
Zverev was punished for a slow start as Tabilo took the opener within 32 minutes, but the German fought back in a one-hour, 15-minute slog of a second set.
The 2017 Italian Open champion put his foot down from 3-3 in the second-set tie-break, with Tabilo potentially feeling the effects of a fine run that included a last-32 upset of Novak Djokovic.
Zverev upped the intensity in the final set and won a huge 94 per cent of points behind his first serve as his opponent wilted, the third seed reaching the Rome final for a third time.
Data Debrief: Zverev draws level with Becker
Zverev will now face either Nicolas Jarry or Tommy Paul in Sunday's final, which will be his 11th at ATP 1000 Masters level.
That tally pulls him level with Boris Becker for most such finals by a German player since the format's 1990 introduction.
Sabalenka defeats Collins to set up Swiatek rematch
Aryna Sabalenka defeated Danielle Collins 7-5 6-2 to set up yet another meeting with Iga Swiatek at the Italian Open.
Having defeated Collins en route to the final of the Madrid Open, which she lost to Swiatek, Sabalenka repeated the trick with a straight sets win over the American in Thursday's semi-final.
And the Belarusian's reward will be an immediate rematch with Swiatek.
The duo have met 10 times, including in Madrid earlier this month, with Swiatek winning seven times and Sabalenka claiming three victories.
This will be Sabalenka's first appearance in the Italian Open final.
She is the sixth player, along with Simona Halep (2017), Dinara Safina (2009), Serena Williams (2013), Ons Jabeur (2022), and Swiatek (2024) to have reached the final of both Madrid and Rome in the same season.
Data Debrief: Perfect record
Collins is the only player against whom Sabalenka has registered six wins without a loss in WTA events, while only against Maria Sakkari and Elise Mertens does she have more wins in her career in such events (seven each).
The final will mark the fourth meeting on clay between Swiatek and Sabalenka as world number one and two, equalling Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova for the most meetings on the surface as the WTA's top-two ranked players.
Swiatek makes it back-to-back finals with Gauff win
Iga Swiatek is through to the Italian Open final for the third time after seeing off Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday.
There was little to separate the two in the opening 50 minutes as they played to 4-4 before Gauff left an opening with back-to-back double faults, and Swiatek took full advantage.
The world number one broke Gauff’s serve four times, including in the fifth game of the second set to swing the momentum firmly in her favour after one hour 48 minutes on the court.
Swiatek has now reached back-to-back WTA 1000 finals after winning the Madrid Open earlier this month and could face Aryna Sabalenka for the title once more if the Belarusian gets past Danielle Collins in the other semi-final.
Data Debrief: Unstoppable on clay
Swiatek has now won 11 consecutive matches, and registered her 10th victory over Gauff in 11 meetings between the two - she has won all four matches against the American on clay.
Since the format’s introduction in 2009, Swiatek (40 per cent, 12/30) holds the highest percentage of finals reached from WTA-1000 main draws entered. Serena Williams (36.7 per cent, 18/49) is the next best in the format's history.
Since the WTA rankings were first published in 1975, Swiatek has become only the third player to reach multiple Italian Open finals as the WTA's number one, along with Serena Williams (three) and Monica Seles (two). She will be looking for her third Italian Open title on Saturday.
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