Julius Okorie
It was a double celebration for world No.1, Iga Swiatek, as she celebrated her 23rd birthday, winning third consecutive French Open title, and her fourth, in five years, on Saturday.
Swiatek, who made her debut, as a 17-year-old schoolgirl in 2019, blew away Italian first-time major finalist Jasmine Paolini in two straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 to emerge champion at Roland Garros.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelInterestingly, she has lost only two matches in six visits to Roland Garros, proving her dominance on clay court.
She is the first woman to win three consecutive Roland Garros titles since Justine Henin in 2007 and only the third to achieve the feat in Open history, along with Monica Seles.
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She also became by this feat, the only second player to claim tournament victory at Madrid, Rome, and the French Open, in a calendar year, after Serena Williams, in 2013.
The Polish is undefeated in Paris, since 2021, 21 matches ago, and has won 34 of her 36 matches in Roland Garros, a record matched, only by Seles and Chris Evert.
Evert and Martina Navratilova, with nine Roland Garros titles, between them, presented the runners-up plate to Paolini and the winners’ trophy to Swiatek, to the admiration of fans who cheered all the way.
“It’s amazing to be here. I love this place. I wait every year to come back here,” said Swiatek.
“I was almost out of the tournament in the second round – it’s been a really emotional tournament.”
After surviving a match point in the second round against Naomi Osaka, in arguably the match of the tournament, Swiatek’s route to the final, has been more like a procession.
She won 20 games in a row, over three matches, against Marie Bouzkova, (6-4 6-2), Anastasia Potapova, (6-0 6-0) and Marketa Vondrousova, (6-0 6-2), before rolling over Coco Gauff, 6-2 6-4, in the semi-final.
Paolini, at least has another shot at a Roland Garros title, as she returns on Sunday for the doubles final, alongside Italian partner, Sara Errani.
“It’s been an intense 15 days, but the best days of my life. I’m really proud of myself,” she said.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
