Unbeatable Swiatek Powers Past Paolini For 3rd Straight French Open Title, 5th Grand Slam
Iga Swiatek remains the woman to beat on clay after powering past Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 to collect her fourth French Open title and third straight. It’s Swiatek’s fifth career Grand Slam title.
Swiatek becomes the first woman to with three straight at Roland Garros since Justine Henin in 2007. She has now won her last 21 matches at the French Open since falling to Maria Sakkari in the 2021 quarterfinals. And once the weather dried up in Paris, she was dominant.
“I love this place, honestly,” Swiatek said on court. “I wait every year to come back here.
“I was almost out of the tournament in the second round, so thank you guys for having my back and cheering for me, I also needed to believe that this moment was possible.”
Swiatek had a save a match point in that second round thriller with Naomi Osaka. She finished dropping just 17 games in her last 10 sets of tennis.
“Even though I was really close to being out of it against Naomi, I just survived that match and then played with huge confidence,” Swiatek said. “I’m just proud of myself that I didn’t stop and the pressure didn’t squeeze me down.
“Honestly I just felt better and better every day. Also the weather got hotter and I think it suits my game.”
Swiatek, who turned 23 just 8 days ago, becomes the youngest woman to win four French Opens. Overall, she’s 34-2 at the event. And she’s won her last 18 matches including hitting the dirt trifecta of winning at the Madrid Masters, Rome Masters and now taking the French.
The title was also Swiatek’s 22nd of her career and she improves to 22-4 in finals and a perfect 5-0 in Grand Slam finals (10-1 in sets).
“I’ve already achieved much more than I ever expected,” Swiatek said. “I’m just doing everything step by step, really enjoying every match and every title – my goal is to be a better player and I feel like I am a better player than last year, for example, and I’m just proud of that.”
The 28-year-old Paolini made things interesting early on going up a break 2-1 but the then familiar flood from Swiatek came and the world No. 1 ran off 10 straight games in a blink. After 68 minutes, a 22nd career title was hers.
“I think to play you here is the toughest challenge in our sport,” Paolini said on court. “But I think I really enjoyed the match, it was important to step on the court and enjoy the moment, because it’s a good moment for me.”
Paolini, who was trying to follow Jannik Sinner as Italian Slam winners this year, will now break into the Top 10 at No. 7.
Both players will now head to the grass in Berlin which begins on June 17.
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