Poland's Iga Swiatek, 23, broke Coco Gauff in the first game of the match and, apart from briefly losing serve in the second set, retained control to win 6-2, 6-4.

Jasmine Paolini, 28, defeated unseeded 17-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in the second semi-final on Thursday.

Regardless of the outcome between Swiatek and Gauff, both players were set to leave Roland Garros as the top two women’s players in the world rankings.

US Open champion Gauff spoke confidently after defeating three-time major finalist Ons Jabeur in the quarter-finals, stating she had “nothing to lose” and claimed the pressure was on Swiatek.

However, her attempts to land heavy forehands in the rallies did not pay off, with a stream of errors from that side aiding Swiatek.

Gauff made 18 unforced errors in a first set where Swiatek only needed to hit two winners, and the American’s body language showed she was feeling the pressure.

After taking a bathroom break to gather her thoughts, Gauff had to dig deep to hold serve at the start of the second set.

A dispute with umpire Aurelie Tourte over a line call sparked her into life.

An emotional Gauff appeared to wipe away tears between points in the next game, but the energy fueled her into breaking Swiatek’s serve for a 3-1 lead.

However, Gauff could not consolidate, and although she showed more resistance towards the end, she has more problem-solving to do about how to end Swiatek's dominance.

The question before the tournament was whether anyone could stop Swiatek from becoming only the third woman to win three French Open titles in a row.

She aims to join Monica Seles (1990–1992) and Justine Henin (2005–2007) as the only women to achieve the feat in the Open era.

Only former world number one Naomi Osaka, who had little previous form on clay and won her four majors on hard courts, has come close to stopping her.

Swiatek has gone up several gears since that titanic second-round contest where she saved a match point before winning in three sets.

She did not drop a game in a 40-minute thrashing against Anastasia Potapova in the fourth round and made light work of 2019 finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the quarter-finals.

Paolini is the final player in Swiatek's way after reaching her maiden major singles final with a powerful performance against Andreeva.

The late-blooming Italian's run at Roland Garros is the latest surprise in a season where she has registered several career milestones.

Paolini had never previously gone beyond the second round in Paris but has built on lifting the first WTA 1,000 title of her career in Dubai and earning notable wins over some established top-20 players.

After beating third seed Elena Rybakina in the quarter-finals, she continued to use her powerful forehand to draw mistakes from 38th-ranked Andreeva.

The teenager, who was the youngest Grand Slam semi-finalist since Martina Hingis at the 1997 US Open, was visibly emotional as the second set ran away from her.

'I learned a bit later than other players maybe but to dream is the most important thing in sport and life.

I'm happy I could dream this moment,' Paolini, who won the final five games of the match, said.