Iga Swiatek marched into the French Open final without dropping a set in six matches. All that stands between her and a third Roland Garros title is an unseeded plays 43rd-ranked Czech Karolina Muchova in the women’s singles final, live Saturday at 9 ET on NBC, the NBC Sports app and the top-ranked Pole, swept 14th seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-2, 7-6 7 in Thursday’s semifinal in her toughest test all tournament. Haddad Maia squandered three break points at 4-all in the second dropped just 23 games thus far, matching her total en route to her first French Open final in 2020 which she won for her first WTA Tour title of any kind. After her semifinal, she signed a courtside camera with the hashtag stepbystep.“For sure I feel like I’m a better player,” than in 2020, she said. “Mentally, tactically, physically, just having the experience, everything. So, yeah, my whole life basically.”Swiatek can become the third woman since 2000 to win three French Opens after Serena Williams and Justine Henin and, at 22, the youngest woman to win four total majors since Williams in OPEN DRAWS Women Men Broadcast ScheduleMuchova upset No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus to reach her first major a 26-year-old into the second week of the French Open for the first time, became the first player to take a set off the powerful Belarusian all tournament, then rallied from down 5-2 in the third set to prevail 7-6 5, 6-7 5, who overcame previous erratic serving to win the Australian Open in January, had back-to-back double faults in her last service game.“Lost my rhythm,” she said. “I wasn’t there.”Muchova broke up what many expected would be a Sabalenka-Swiatek final, which would have been the first No. 1 vs. No. 2 match at the French Open since Williams beat Maria Sharapova in the 2013 is unseeded, but was considered dangerous going into the 2021, she beat then-No. 1 Ash Barty to make the Australian Open semifinals, then reached a career-high ranking of 19. She dropped out of the top 200 last year while struggling through injuries.“Some doctors told me maybe you’ll not do sport anymore,” Muchova said. “It’s up and downs in life all the time. Now I’m enjoying that I’m on the upper part now.”Muchova has won all five of her matches against players ranked in the top three. She also beat Swiatek in their lone head-to-head, but that was back in 2019 when both players were unaccomplished young pros. They have since practiced together many times.“I really like her game, honestly,” Swiatek said. “I really respect her, and she’s I feel like a player who can do anything. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game. She plays with that kind of freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches, and I feel like I know her game pretty well.”OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!Follow nbcolympictalk Patrick Gasienica, who competed in ski jumping at the 2022 Winter Olympics, died in a motorcycle accident on Monday at age died “while returning from work on his motorcycle,” according to a memorial fund put together by a family friend and verified by USA Nordic. He was living with his mom in McHenry, Illinois. All donations will be directed toward Gasienica’s mother, according to the fund placed fourth at the December 2021 Olympic Trials, then was part of the men’s quartet that placed 10th at the Olympics. Individually, he placed 49th on the normal hill and 53rd on the large hill in his Olympic competed at one international event this past season, a Continental Cup in Iron Mountain, Michigan, in March with a best finish of trained at the Norge Ski Club outside Chicago and joined fellow members of the club on the 2022 Olympic ski jumping team Kevin Bickner and Casey Larson, both 2018 was born in the to a family of Polish immigrants from Zakopane, which has a ski jumping hill and hosts international competitions. His grandfather, father and uncle were all ski Associated Press and NBC Olympic research contributed to this report. Faith Kipyegon was given $35,000 and a house by Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday as a reward for breaking two world records in the space of a who met with Ruto at the president’s office, said she would now fulfill a promise she had made to buy her father a new 29-year-old Kipyegon, a two-time Olympic 1500m champion, broke the 1500m world record in Florence, Italy on June 2, lowering the eight-year-old mark set by Genzebe Dibaba of Ethiopia. Kipyegon became the first woman to go under 3 minutes, 50 seconds with her 3 broke the 5000m record last Friday at the Paris Diamond League meet by clocking 14 winning that race ahead of former world record-holder Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia.“Faith has made Kenya incredibly proud,” Ruto said. “She stands as a shining model of consistency, discipline, hard work, as well as family. Faith is a great Kenyan woman — a mother, a wife and a world champion rolled into one.”Ruto pledged that the Kenyan government will also give similar rewards to future world-record is on Apple News. Favorite us!Follow nbcolympictalk