Iga Swiatek edged past Karolina Muchova 6-2 5-7 6-3 in a thrilling final to secure her third Roland Garros title.
Swiatek was dominant for the first set but had to endure a resilient comeback from Muchova in a gripping women’s final.
The Pole is the first male or female player to win her first seven sets in Grand Slam finals.
It’s a fourth Grand Slam title for Swiatek who will remain at world number one on Monday heading into the grass court season.
Heading into the match Swiatek was the more experienced in Grand Slam finals and that experience showed as she settle into her rhythm more.
Muchova was playing in her first Grand Slam final and started the match more passively, allowing Swiatek to dictate play and be aggressive.
The world number one’s aggressive start was rewarded with a 3-0 lead as there was work to do for the world number 43.
Eventually Muchova’s mix of power and slice was able to cause Swiatek a few problems as a few effective drop shots allowed her to edge towards a service hold.
This allowed Muchova to have more freedom on return as the Czech Republican worked the angles, creating a break point to get back on serve.
However some ridiculous backhands and clinical point construction allowed Swiatek to cruise through the big points as the top seed held to take a 4-1 lead.
The rest of the set allowed Swiatek to produce relentless pressure on Muchova with the Czech Republican having to save break point in the sixth game.
In the end Swiatek’s persistent pressure on return paid off as she broke to love to seal a comfortable opening set 6-2.
Momentum was with Swiatek while Muchova failed to really settle into the final as she sprayed unforced errors wide and by some margin.
An effortless display of power saw her take advantage of Muchova’s erratic errors as once again the world number one took a 3-0 lead at the start of the second set.
Muchova soon realised it was now or never if she wanted to make an impression in this final and the Czech Republican started to construct more effective points with the slice once again doing the damage.
A handful of errors mixed with some much more aggressive play from the Czech Republican and this final was back on serve at 3-2.
Muchova was starting to find the lines as she looked for high percentage shots on pressure moments.
This forced Swiatek in some big pressure moments which finally told on the world number one as she was much more passive towards the end of the second set.
A double fault gifted Muchova the break and all of the sudden the Czech Republican had the opportunity to serve out the second set.
Once again though Muchova was mentally cramping up as she hit some wild unforced errors and Swiatek’s clever returning allowed her to break back for 5-5.
Both players were feeling the nerves as Swiatek produced more cheap errors to give another break to Muchova.
The Czech Republican got off to a nervy start but eventually produced some world class points to seal the set on her third set point after a return error from Swiatek as this final would be going to a decider.
At the start of the third set saw a completely different Muchova with the Czech Republican hitting the ball with confidence and precision.
More unforced errors from Swiatek gave Muchova the early break which was followed by a hold to love which included two aces.
However the defending champion showed her true qualities as some world-class backhands down the line saw her seal three games in a row to take a 3-2 lead.
Muchova overcame the early setback and regained her composure to secure the break back as she once again had the break advantage at 4-3.
A flurry of missed first serves mixed with some quality returns saw Swiatek once again break back as both players continued to be tense.
The Czech Republican was again threatened to break in the next game but Swiatek’s clutch play on serve mixed with some poor missed returns from Muchova saw the Pole hold for 5-4.
That was the crucial point in the match as Swiatek sealed her third Roland Garros title with a break in the next game after a Muchova double fault.
The Pole has now won her fourth Grand Slam title as she fell to tears after a thrilling contest.
After the match Muchova broke down in tears and paid tribute to her opponent, “Thank you very much. I’ll try to keep it short because this is emotional. This is incredible, thank you to everyone,” Muchova was quoted by BBC as saying.
“It’s been amazing to be actually three weeks in Paris here for me and my team. This was so close and yet so far. that happens when you play one of the best.
“Iga, I want to congratulate you and your team. I want to thank everyone behind the curtains as well. The people who help us in the locker-room, physios, ball kids, every volunteer. It’s been an amazing tournament.”
Meanwhile Swiatek said that Paris is one of her favourite places on tour, “Thank you to my family as well and there have been so many people that have come from Poland that I really feel the love, so thank you too,” Swiatek was quoted as saying by the BBC.
“I know I have said every year it is not about the performance but I really love being here – basically it’s my favourite place on tour so thank you to everybody, tournament organisers, sponsors, people who are working behind the scenes, you make this tournament so great for us that it is always a pleasure to come back and just give 100%.
“I want to thank you guys for coming and giving us so much energy – it was so loud today and for the semi-finals too, incredible really. I hope next year the atmosphere is going to be even better.”
