Krejcikova Completes Stunning Run, Defeats Pavlyuchenkova For French Open Title
Down a set and a break in her opener against countrywoman Kristyna Pliskova in the first round, Barbora Krejcikova picked herself up, came back and never stopped winning. The 25-year-old capped an improbable week and improbable run with a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in just under two hours.
“It’s something I have always dreamed about,” Krejcikova said. “Winning here, my first doubles title, then winning the mixed ones. Now I was just telling myself, It would be really nice if I can get the Grand Slam in all three categories. Now it’s happening. I cannot believe it. Wow.”
Neither player had been beyond the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam (Krejcikova had one fourth round) and Krejcikova hasn’t even been in the main draw of all for Slams, yet the cool Czech came out firing early. Behind her easy power, she rolled to an opening 6-1 set in just 30 minutes.
Pavlyuchenkova would grab an early break and it was her turn to dominate. After the second, the 29-year-old Russian needed treatment on her leg. With some question of her ability to resume, she returned and played well.
They traded early breaks but Pavyluchenkova played a bad game at 3-all and was broken at love. And that’s all the cushion Krejcikova needed. The Czech had two chances to close it out in the 5-3 game but then won it on her own serve.
Krejcikova, who was ranked No. 114 at the 2020 French Open, will see her ranking rise to No. 15. She becomes the first player from her country to win the French Open since Hana Mandlikova in 1981, and she acknowledged her late coach Jana Novotna.
“Jana was really special to me,” said Krejcikova. “She pretty much just told me, Go and play pro. When I found out that she [was] sick, and when I found out it’s not going to end up really well, I felt like she was giving me so much of her experience, so much of her power, of her attitude. She [taught] me so many things that I just felt at the end of her life I have to be there. I have to really support her.
After first playing the French Open 13 years ago, Pavlyuchenkova finally made a breakthrough.
“The most important, I think, is to believe in yourself,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “I didn’t expect that this tournament, this Roland-Garros, I’ll be in the final. Again I tell you: physically I wasn’t feeling super great, like ready, 100 percent. Still, because of fighting and believing, you can still achieve it. That’s probably the most important.
“Then just go out there, compete and enjoy,” she added. “Today I’ve done everything I could,” she said. “She was better in the end. She was maybe more fitter, more whatever in the end. Doesn’t matter. I have no questions to myself right now.”
Krejcikova becomes the sixth straight first-time Slam winner at the French Open. And the first to win the French after saving match points since Justine Henin in 2005.
“I’m extremely happy. I mean, it’s a dream come true, for sure,” Krejcikova added. “It’s really hard to put the words together right now because so many emotions, so many things going through my mind.”
Krejcikova, who has won her 12 last matches, will now make her Wimbledon main draw debut later this month as a top seed. But first tomorrow, she’ll return with longtime partner Katerina Siniakova in a bid to sweep the singles and doubles and win her second French doubles crown.
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