Queen of clay back on throne
PARIS, June 8
Iga Swiatek strengthened her reputation as the queen of clay by capturing a third straight French Open crown with a crushing 6-2 6-1 victory over 12th seed Jasmine Paolini to claim her fifth Grand Slam title.
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Swiatek’s hat-trick makes her the first woman since Serena Williams won the US Open from 2012-14 to win three straight trophies at any Major
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Improving to 5-0 in Major finals, Swiatek is also the third player to win her first five, or more, Major finals in the Open Era following Margaret Court and Monica Seles
It’s amazing to be here, I love this place. Honestly, I wait every year to come back here. I was almost out of the tournament in the second round so thank you guys for staying behind me and cheering. It’s been a really emotional tournament. Iga Swiatek
Swiatek’s 21st straight victory at her happiest hunting ground put her in fourth place in the list of longest winning streaks at Roland Garros in the Open era behind only Chris Evert (29), Monica Seles (25) and Justine Henin (24).
The 23-year-old, who arrived in Paris in the form of her life having lifted trophies in Madrid and Rome, extended her run of victories on clay this year to a career-best 19 matches and celebrated with her fourth French Open title in five years.
“It’s amazing to be here, I love this place. Honestly, I wait every year to come back here. I was almost out of the tournament in the second round so thank you guys for staying behind me and cheering. It’s been a really emotional tournament,” Swiatek said after lifting the Suzanne Lenglen Cup.
Swiatek came out all guns blazing early in the contest but after narrowly missing the chance to break from 0-40 down in the second game, the top-seeded Pole made heavy weather of the next to surrender her serve, before bouncing right back.
The diminutive Paolini, only the third Italian woman after Francesca Schiavone and Sara Errani to reach the Roland Garros final since the sport turned professional in 1968, went toe to toe with Swiatek from there but cracked in the sixth game. With the momentum shifting, claycourt specialist Swiatek began to dominate the exchanges from the baseline, superbly working the angles and sealing the opening set in 37 minutes after winning 20 out of 24 points since going down a break.
A shell-shocked Paolini smiled and soaked up the support and applause from the crowd on the main showcourt when she won the odd point early in the next set, but her challenge faded in the afternoon sun as Swiatek broke twice to build a 4-0 lead.
Swiatek, who dropped only one set throughout the tournament in a second-round epic with Naomi Osaka where she saved a match point, won 10 straight games before Paolini got on the board but there was to be no late comeback and the knockout
blow was near. — Reuters
