Iga Swiatek wins third consecutive French Open women’s title after defeating Jasmine Paolini

Iga Swiatek won her third consecutive French Open championship and fourth in five years by defeating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in the final on Saturday.

Top-seeded Swiatek trailed 2-1 early on Court Philippe Chatrier before winning the next 10 games to take the opening set and go up 5-0 in the second. She extended her winning streak at Roland Garros to 21 matches, and her career record at the venue is now 35-2.

The 23-year-old Pole is the first woman to win three consecutive trophies in Paris since Justine Henin, from 2005 to 2007.

Swiatek also won the French Open in 2020 and the US Open in 2022 and is now 5-0 in major finals.

Paolini, 12th ranked, 28-year-old Italian, played in a Slam final for the first time.

She had never made it past the second round of one of tennis’ four major tournaments until she reached the fourth round of the Australian Open in January. Paolini will play the French Open women’s doubles final on Sunday with her partner Sara Errani against 2023 US Open singles champion Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova.

After a scare in the second round against Naomi Osaka, when Swiatek had to save a match point, this represented the fifth lopsided victory in a row. Swiatek won every set during that period and only conceded a total of 17 games.

On Saturday, a loud cry of “Come on, Jasmine! Come on!” emerged from two rows of Paolini fans at the bottom of the stands, each wearing a t-shirt in one of the colors of the Italian flag: green, white or red. They would reprise that song, in English, interspersing it with claps.

During the draw, Paolini remained practically motionless, while Swiatek took his usual steps, shifting from side to side and making forehand and backhand cuts.

After Swiatek got the first point of the match, a fan shouted in French: “Jasmine, it’s not over yet!”

And indeed, it soon appeared that they were right. That’s because Swiatek went through a bit of an unstable phase, failing to convert a break point in the second game, and then trailing 2-1 in the 13th minute, when he missed a forehand, sending it wide.

That was Swiatek’s seventh unforced error of the afternoon; Paolini had only made one so far.

Could a real surprise be coming? Could Paolini not just win this match, but actually win it?

Hum no.

Swiatek immediately pulled herself together and began playing the type of tennis that has kept her No. 1 in the WTA rankings for nearly every week since April 2022. The instincts and footwork to hit almost any shot an opponent can offer. The intimidating, heavy forehands. The pre-game strategy and mid-game adjustments that can change things her way.

And once Swiatek started, there was nothing Paolini could do to slow her down.

Swiatek fell in love immediately, ending the game with a game-winning return on a 90 mph serve. The next game began with a 25-shot exchange that Swiatek ended with a backhand winner that Paolini didn’t even try to chase, and it quickly became 3-2.

This was part of a stretch in which Swiatek won 20 of the last 24 points of the first set.

One-way traffic continued into the next set, and after just 1 hour and 8 minutes of play, Swiatek was celebrating as he dropped to his knees behind the baseline.

Soon, she was sitting on the sideline and used her phone to take a selfie while holding up four fingers to represent her French Open trophy collection.