Because of how different clay court tennis is stylistically from hard court or grass court, the French Open lends itself to dominance by players that have mastered that surface. On the men's side, we saw Rafael Nadal lord over the clay for nearly two decades,

ROLAND GARROS, PARIS — In arguably the most anticipated women’s tennis match of the decade, Aryna Sabalenka defeated Iga Świątek Thursday to reach her first French Open final.

Flecks of rust-colored clay dotted Aryna Sabalenka’s back and caked her white shoes as she ripped big shot after big shot against Iga Swiatek on Thursday, the thud of racket-on-string reverberating off the closed roof at the main stadium at Roland Garros.