11 June,2023 07:45 AM IST | Paris | AFP
Iga Swiatek is all smiles as she lifts the winner’s trophy after beating Karolina Muchova. Pic/Getty Images
Iga Swiatek battled past Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 to win her third French Open title on Saturday and become the first woman to successfully defend the Roland Garros title since 2007.
The 22-year-old Swiatek is just the third woman in the Open era to win each of her first four Grand Slam finals, the Pole adding to her 2020 and 2022 titles in Paris and last year's US Open triumph.
Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka are the only other players to accomplish the feat. Swiatek, the World No. 1 from Poland, is also the youngest woman to claim back-to-back French Open titles since Monica Seles in the early 1990s.
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Justine Henin was the last woman to win successive Roland Garros crowns when she captured her third in a row and fourth in total 16 years ago. Swiatek's latest coronation caps another dominant two weeks on the clay in Paris, where her record stands at 28 wins and two losses in five visits.
Muchova, at 43 in the world, was the fourth lowest ranked woman to reach the French Open final, her first championship match at a major. Swiatek, then just 19, was ranked 54 when she lifted her first trophy - three years after Jelena Ostapenko's shock triumph.
Muchova's compatriot Renata Tomanova was runner-up in 1976. However, the unseeded Czech had won all five matches in her career against players in the top three - four of them at Grand Slams - having stunned Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.
On guard against an underdog with a habit of taking those down at the top, Swiatek quickly applied pressure on the 26-year-old Muchova. A miscued forehand from Muchova gave the Pole two break points in the second game which she took with minimal fuss.
The top seed consolidated with a quick hold before Muchova got on the board in game four, drawing loud roars from the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd. Muchova carved out a break opportunity to get back on serve, but Swiatek snuffed it out in a protracted fifth game - pumping her fist in relief as she surged 4-1 up.
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. 2023: Iga Switaek
. 2022: Iga Swiatek
. 2021: Barbora Krejcikova
. 2020: Iga Swiatek
. 2019: Ashleigh Barty
. 2018: Simona Halep
. 2017: Jelena Ostapenko
. 2016: Garbine Muguruza
. 2015: Serena Williams
. 2014: Maria Sharapova
. 2013: Serena Williams
. 2012: Maria Sharapova
. 2011: Li Na
. 2010: Francesca Schiavone
. 2009: Svetlana Kuznetsova
. 2008: Ana Ivanovic
. 2007: Justine Henin
. 2006: Justine Henin
. 2005: Justine Henin
. 2004: Anastasia Myskina
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