Three years ago, as a relatively unknown teenager, Iga Swiatek made her Major breakthrough, reaching the fourth round of Roland Garros. A year later, she won this tournament. This year, Swiatek has become the most dominant figure in this sport. The world No.1 is on a 34-match win streak, has claimed five consecutive titles, and is 43-3 on the year. On Saturday, Iga plays for her second Major title, and with a win, would tie Venus Williams for longest WTA win streak since the year 2000.
Three years ago, as a relatively unknown teenager, Coco Gauff made her Major breakthrough, reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon. That was Gauff’s first ever main draw appearance at a Slam, and included a first-round upset over one of her idols, Venus Williams. Later that same year, the American claimed her first WTA title in Linz. A year ago at this event, she achieved her first Major quarterfinal. On Saturday, Coco plays in her first Major singles final, just a day before she also plays for the women’s doubles championship on Sunday.
Iga Swiatek (1) vs. Coco Gauff (18) – Not Before 3:00pm on Court Philippe Chatrier
This is Swiatek’s 10th career singles final. After losing her very first three years ago in Lugano, she’s won her last eight. And she’s not only won those eight, she’s dominated them. Iga has taken her last 16 sets played in finals, allowing her opposition only 28 games across those sets. This is reminiscent of her performance throughout 2022, when she’s won 87 of 102 sets contested.
For Gauff, this is only a third career WTA singles final, and her first in over a year. While she’s 2-0 in those championship matches, they were both WTA 250 tournaments, three levels below a Grand Slam event. And Coco did not arrive in Paris with anywhere near the momentum of Swiatek. She was a modest 14-10 this season, and had only advanced to one semifinal. However, unlike Iga, Coco has not dropped a set this fortnight.
They’ve played twice previously, with Swiatek winning both matches in straight sets. Those victories occurred a year ago in the Rome semifinals on clay, and four months ago in Miami on a hard court. In Miami, Gauff only managed to earn four games. On clay, Iga’s best surface, it may prove even more challenging for Coco to wrestle games away from Swiatek. However, Gauff is playing at a considerably higher level this fortnight than she has all season.
The biggest factor on this day may be who better manages their nerves. Swiatek appeared edgy earlier in this event, understandably feeling the pressure of the huge win streak she’s currently on, and the expectations of being a prohibitive favorite to win a Major. But she showed none of those nerves during her confident, thorough victory over Daria Kasatkina in the semifinals, losing only three games.
Gauff has spoken about how remaining calm has made a huge difference at this tournament, as she’s learned to enjoy her time at Grand Slam events rather than remaining hyper-focused on tennis 24 hours a day. Yet she’ll surely feel the weight of her first appearance in a Major singles final, as even a previous appearance in a Major doubles final (at last year’s US Open) is not comparable. Swiatek not only knows what this feels like, but she’s thrived under that pressure. That experience, combined with her aggressive, well-rounded game, make Iga the favorite to win Roland Garros for a second time.
Also on Saturday, it’s Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-julien Rojer (12) vs. Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the men’s doubles championship match. As per the ATP, Rojer is the oldest men’s doubles finalist at Roland Garros in the Open Era, while Arevalo is the first Central American to reach a men’s doubles final at any Major. They won two ATP 250 events this year on hard courts. This is a first Slam final for Krejicek, while Dodig is playing for his seventh Major title. They are on a nine-match win streak, dating back to their title run two weeks ago in Lyon.
Saturday’s full Order of Play is here.
