Mon, Jun 10, 2024 page7

• Swiatek wins third French title in row

  AMONG THE GREATS: Swiatek became just the fourth woman in the Open era to win four French Open titles, and has won the same number as Nadal had at her age

  • AFP, PARIS
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  Poland’s Iga Swiatek on Saturday extended her French Open reign as she thrashed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in the final to win a third successive Roland Garros title.

  World No. 1 Swiatek dominated Italian 12th seed Paolini, a first-time Grand Slam finalist, needing just 68 minutes to capture a fourth crown in five years in Paris.

  Swiatek has now won all five Grand Slam finals she has contested. Her other victory came at the 2022 US Open.

  

  Poland’s Iga Swiatek celebrates beating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini to win the women’s singles final at the French Open in Paris on Saturday.

  Photo: Reuters

  She is the fourth woman in the Open era to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen four times — after Justine Henin, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf.

  “It’s amazing to be here. I love this place. I wait every year to come back,” Swiatek said.

  “I’m a perfectionist, so there is always pressure behind me, but I think I’m fine with handling my own pressure,” she said. “It’s when the pressure from the outside hits me, then it’s a little bit worse, but I managed it really well at this tournament.”

  Swiatek’s latest coronation came as no surprise, but her run to the title was not without its hiccups — and tears.

  She saved a match point against Naomi Osaka in the second round, later weeping in the gym as her emotions took over.

  “I honestly thought that I’m going to be out of the tournament,” Swiatek said about her third-round win.

  “Even though I felt something on court, it kind of hit me after. I was happy that I won, but I still felt like I was really on the edge. So, yeah, I just cried.”

  From that point, nobody could get close to Swiatek, who conceded a mere 11 games from the fourth round onward — the joint-fewest en route to winning a women’s major in the Open era.

  Swiatek is only the third woman to win the tournament three years running. Henin, in 2005-2007, was the last to do so. Monica Seles also achieved the feat as a teenager at the start of the 1990s.

  At 23, her four Roland Garros titles is the same number Rafael Nadal, the record 14-time men’s champion, had at the same age.

  She also completed a Madrid-Rome-Roland Garros treble. The only other woman in history to do it in the same season is Serena Williams.

  For the 28-year-old Paolini it was a sorry conclusion, at least in singles, to an otherwise brilliant fortnight in the French capital.

  The world No. 15 had won four matches in 16 Grand Slam appearances before advancing to the fourth round of the Australian Open in January.

  While she fell short of emulating compatriot Francesca Schiavone, who won the 2010 French Open, Paolini could yet finish on a winning note with her and doubles partner Sara Errani through to the final.

  “I have to say congratulations to you, Iga,” Paolini said. “I think to play you here is the toughest challenge in this sport.”

  “It was tough, but it was lots of fun,” she added.
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