Iga Swiatek fully justified her status as a top-seeded and for the third time in a row and the fourth time in total won the title of Roland Garros tennis tournament with one of the most convincing victories in the finals in Paris – 2-0 (6:2, 6:1) in 59 minutes of play against the surprising finalist Jasmine Paolini (Italy).
Iga Swiatek passed Steffi Graf in number of wins at Roland Garros with 21. Only against Naomi Osaka in the second round the Polish tennis player look like she might drop out (she saved a match point), but then she recorded stunning victories over Anastasia Potapova (Russia) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:0), Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) by 2-0 (6:0, 6:2) and now in the final.
The record for the shortest Grand Slam final ever in the Open Era was held in Paris in 1988, when Steffi Graf beat Natasha Zvereva by 2-0 (6:0, 6:0) in 34 minutes, but only 32 of those were games because of a short interruption due to rain.
“Iga, you are the biggest challenge in our sport. World No 1 and with so many Grand Slam titles, I have nothing to add but congratulations. These days in Paris were the best of my life, at least I have the doubles final tomorrow”, said Jasmine Paolini, who will fight for the doubles title with Sara Errani.
“Jasmine, you have improved a lot in recent weeks and I hope we have many more matches on such a stage. Thank you to everyone without whom I would not be here and who have supported me for so long. Thanks to everyone involved in the organization of the tournament. I love this place”, said Iga Swiatek, breaking down in tears at the award ceremony. “I almost got eliminated in the second round, so thank you to everyone who supported me during these two weeks. I won’t bore you any more, good luck to Paolini in the final tomorrow”, concluded she.
It was Iga Swiatek’s fifth Grand Slam final, earning her a fifth major title (she won the US Open in 2022). The 23-year-old world No 1 has won 22 of her last 25 finals, including all four this year in the WTA 1000 category – Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome.
Iga Swiatek became the third woman since World War II to win Roland Garros three times in a row after Monica Seles (1990-92) and Justine Henin (2005-07).
Jasmine Paolini lived the role of Cinderella in Paris, and the remarkable thing is that he also reached the final in doubles with Sara Errani. She didn’t make it past the second round of a Grand Slam until January this year, and is already a finalist, despite boasting only two WTA titles.
She is the fifth Italian in the top 10 (she will be No 7 on Monday) and the third finalist in Paris after Francesca Schiavone, who won the title in 2010 and lost it in 2011, and Sara Errani (runner up in 2012).