Japan's Ena Shibahara and Dutchman Wesley Koolhof beat Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and John Peers of Australia 6-3, 6-4 in the French Open mixed doubles semifinals on Wednesday.
The second seeds' 68-minute, straight-sets victory on Court Suzanne-Lenglen marks the first time in 25 years a mixed doubles team featuring a Japanese player has reached the final at Roland Garros.
The last mixed team to accomplish the feat was Japan's Rika Hiraki and her Indian partner Mahesh Bhupathi, who went on to win the title. It happened one year before Shibahara was born.
"I heard that and thought 'wow, good job me,'" the 24-year-old Shibahara said.
"I'm so happy we won. We played well today so I hope we can keep this up in the final. I'm excited (about the final). It will serve as a great confidence boost if we're able to win."
Shibahara and Koolhof will face the unseeded pairing of Norway's Ulrikke Eikeri and Belgium's Joran Vliegen in Thursday's final.
Eikeri, who had never played a mixed event prior to this week in Paris, became Norway's first Grand Slam finalist of the Open era, the period since 1968 in which Grand Slams allowed professional players to compete alongside amateurs.
