PARIS — No. 1-ranked Aryna Sabalenka ended Iga Swiatek’s 26-match French Open unbeaten streak and reached the final in Paris for the first time by using her pure power to dominate down the stretch and win their semifinal 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 on Thursday.

Sabalenka’s victory prevented Swiatek from becoming the first woman to win four consecutive championships at the clay-court Grand Slam tournament since professionals were admitted in 1968.

It also gives Sabalenka a chance to win her fourth major title — and first away from hard courts, after two at the Australian Open and one at the U.S. Open.

The 27-year-old from Belarus also took the top WTA ranking from Swiatek last October.

Sabalenka will face No. 2 Coco Gauff or 361st-ranked French wild-card entry Loïs Boisson in the final on Saturday.

Most remarkable, perhaps, was the way Sabalenka — her back dotted with flecks of the rust-colored clay — dominated in crunch time, racing through the last set.

With the Court Philippe-Chatrier roof closed on a drizzly day, there was no wind or other elements for the players to confront, and both produced some terrific tennis for stretches. But in the end, the difference was that when Sabalenka decided to swing away, she rushed Swiatek into mistakes.

This stat says it all: The third set included 12 unforced errors off Swiatek’s racket, and zero off Sabalenka’s.

This continues a rough stretch for Swiatek, a 24-year-old from Poland, who has not even reached a final at any tournament since walking away with her third trophy in a row — and fifth Grand Slam title overall — from Paris 12 months ago. She recently slid to No. 5 in the rankings.

Her rut includes a surprising exit in the semifinals at the 2024 Summer Olympics, which were contested at Roland-Garros; she ended up with the bronze medal. Then, later last season, she was banned for a month after testing positive for a banned substance; her explanation was accepted that the result was unintentional and caused by a contaminated medicine.

MEN’S SEMIFINALS

It is unusual to think of Novak Djokovic as not being the favorite to win a French Open semifinal, given that his greatest clay-court rival Rafael Nadal has retired.

After all, Djokovic has won three titles at Roland-Garros among his men’s record 24 Grand Slams. He also owns prestigious winning head-to-head records against 22-time major winner Nadal (31-29) and 20-time major champion Roger Federer (27-23).

Yet, when Djokovic faces Jannik Sinner today for a place in Sunday’s final, against defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain or No. 8-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, the favorite could be Sinner.

Top-ranked Sinner has beaten Djokovic in their past three meetings and four of the past five, including in the 2024 Australian Open semifinals. The Italian is 4-4 against him and 15 years younger than Djokovic, who is 38.

Given this, and Djokovic’s early losses in Doha, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo and Madrid, his title chances were subdued before the French Open.

“He’s a bit underrated,” 2024 French Open runner-up Alexander Zverev said after losing to Djokovic in the quarterfinals on Wednesday. “A lot of people count him out already. But this year he’s had wins over Carlos (Alcaraz) at the Australian Open, he has had a win over me at the French Open. Forget the age.”

Losing the match, including a 41-stroke exchange, convinced Zverev that Djokovic was far from a spent force.

Just before the French Open, Djokovic won his 100th career title.

“The way I won the tournament definitely helped me mentally approach Roland-Garros in a better way,” Djokovic said. “I think the win against Alcaraz in quarters of Australian Open, to win quarters against Zverev (on Wednesday) proves to myself and others that I can still play on the highest level, and I just thrive on these occasions.”

So does Sinner, the Australian Open champion, who is 3-0 in major finals.

“Jannik is in tremendous form, and he has been the best player for the last couple of years,” Djokovic said. “But these kind of matchups and challenges extract the best out of me. Playing best of five, late stages of a Grand Slam against No. 1 in the world, you can’t get more motivated than that for me at this age.”

What is Musetti’s record against Alcaraz?

This will be their seventh meeting in what could blossom into a big rivalry. The 23-year-old Musetti beat Alcaraz on clay in the 2022 Hamburg final, but has lost five straight matches to him since then, including three on clay.

The 22-year-old Alcaraz is chasing a second French Open title and fifth major overall. Alcaraz beat Musetti twice on clay this season — in the Italian Open semifinals and the Monte Carlo Masters final.

MIXED DOUBLES

Third-seeded Italian pair Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori beat fourth-seeded Americans Taylor Townsend and Evan King 6-4, 6-2 to win the mixed doubles title at the French Open on Thursday.

It was their second major title together after winning last year’s U.S. Open. For Errani, it was another trophy won at Roland-Garros, after winning Olympic gold in women’s doubles with compatriot Jasmine Paolini last year.

Townsend was the U.S. Open mixed runner-up last year with Donald Young, and has won two major women’s doubles titles.

She hopes their performance inspires others back home and beyond.

“This is special for me and Evan. We grew up on the south side of Chicago,” Townsend said. “I hope this is inspiration for people to know that this is possible.”

As kids, they learned the game at the same courts.

“He’s seen me since I was coming up,” she said. “We used to play at the public courts, Jackson Park, we used to play at the same park and we used to be at the same places.”

She added they will have another go.

“We’re running it back at Wimbledon so we’re going to try it again,” she said.