Coco Gauff has become the youngest American woman to win the French Open in over 20 years after outlasting world No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in an epic showdown.
The world No.2 recovered from losing a marathon opening set to prevail 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4, over her nemesis, who she now leads 6-5 in their head-to-head. It is the fourth time in Gauff’s career that she has beaten a current world No.1 player out of 14 attempts. She is also the first American to lift the title since Serena Williams 10 years ago.
During the dramatic clash, Gauff managed to neutralise Sabalenka’s powerful shot-making and capitalised on her rivals’ drop in form as the match progressed. Sabalenka, who was also chasing after her maiden trophy in Paris, produced a costly 70 unforced errors with 38 of them occurring during the last two sets.
“I was going through a lot of things when I lost this final three years ago, so it means a lot to be back and here and to win,” Gauff said during the trophy ceremony.
“Aryna, you are a fighter, you’re the number one player in the world and I know today was a tough match but hopefully we will get to play again in the future.”
In what was the first women’s French Open final between the two highest-ranked players since 2013, an extraordinary roller-coaster unfolded during the opening set. Top seed Sabalenka started off guns blazing by utilizing her powerful shot-making to bully her rival around the court and triggered errors from her. In just over 20 minutes, she stormed to a 4-1, 40-0, lead before a sudden twist of events.
Gauff, who was playing in her second Roland Garros final, was unfazed by the early onslaught and produced a 12-point winning streak out of nowhere which enabled her to retrieve two breaks lost. To add to Sabalenka’s frustration, she then failed to convert two set point opportunities when leading 5-4 during a tiresome 13-minute service game that ended with her getting broken. Two games later, the Belarussian had another chance to serve for the set but was once again denied by some audacious hitting from Gauff.
Eventually, Sabalenka sealed the 7-6 lead after a pulsating 77 minutes of tennis played. In the tiebreaker, she recovered from a 0-3 deficit before winning it with a delicate forehand drop shot at the net. Triggering a massive sigh of relief from her.
The Gauff fightback
The second set was a polar opposite to the first with Gauff racing through as an error-stricken Sabalenka imploded on the court. A total of 28 unforced errors were produced with 19 of them coming from the Belarussian’s racket. As a result, Gauff revived her title hopes with a calm and composed performance to level the match. Four out of her six games won during the 6-2 set were to love.
Gauff looked to be cruising to victory as she moved a point away from sealing a 4-1 lead in the decider before Sabalenka once again battled back to draw level at 3-3. However, the footwork of the two-time Australian Open champion let her down at the worst time as she produced a series of mistakes to hand Guaff a break advantage again. Moving to a game from Grand Slam glory, she failed to convert her first championship point after an outrageous Sabalenka shot landed right on the baseline. However, she prevailed on her second opportunity.
“I want to thank my team. You are always pushing me. I know sometimes I’m not easy to work with, but thank you for everything you do. I appreciate you guys,” said Gauff.
“I also want to thank my parents – from washing my clothes to keeping me grounded you always believe in me. You guys are the reason I do this and inspire me more than anything.
“I want to thank the crowd too. You really helped me today, you were cheering so hard and I don’t know what I do to deserve so much love from the French crowd but Merci beaucoup.
“I didn’t think I could do it but I’m going to quote Tyler, The Creator who said ‘If I ever told you I had a doubt inside me, I must be lying’. I’ll leave you with that.”
During the trophy ceremony, Sabalenka had to compose herself before talking as she began to cry. Apologising to her team for what she described as a ‘terrible final’ in terms of her performance. Sabalenka made her French Open main draw debut in 2018 but it wasn’t until two years ago that she made it through to the second week for the first time.
“This all hurts so much…to play such terrible tennis in these conditions,” said Sabalenka.
“Coco, you were much better than me, you are a fighter. It was a great two weeks.
“Thank you to my team. I am sorry for this terrible final…as always I will come back stronger.”
Coco Gauff is the first player to win a French Open women’s final after losing the first set to a world No.1 player since 1999 when Steffi Graf did so against Martina Hingis.
