Top seed and heavy favorite Iga Swiatek lifted her third consecutive and fourth overall French Open title on Saturday, defeating upstart Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-1 in just over an hour of play. The match was a relatively non competitive affair after the first few games, Paolini would save a break point and break Swiatek to go up 2-1 but didn’t win another game in the set after that, Swiatek broke back at love, raising her level and won 8 of the final 9 points of the opening set to take it 6-2.
In the second set it was one way traffic, Swiatek won five consecutive games and was simply at a level far above what Paolini could offer, finishing the job 6-2 6-1 and cementing herself as the top player in the world of women’s tennis.
The 23 year old Pole has not lost a match at Roland Garros since the 2021 quarterfinals against Maria Sakkari, she has only two losses in her career at Roland Garros. Her fourth title in Paris draws her equal with Belgium’s Justine Henin, and she now trails only Steffi Graf (6) and Chris Evert (7) in terms of French Open titles.
The 28 year old Paolini will be at a career high ranking and having posted by far her best ever result in a Grand Slam she has a lot to be proud of, she simply couldn’t rise to the occasion of beating the world class Swiatek.
Main Photo Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports