She does it once again, the No.1 ranked woman Polish tennis player, Iga Swiatek, claimed the third French Open title of her young outstanding career.
Swiatek came into the Roland Garros (aka French Open) tournament ranked No.1 as she was trying to defend her crown as the champion from last year and redeem herself from losing to No.2 ranked Aryna Sabalenka at the Mutua Madrid Open in May.
She was up against a relentless Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic who surprised many throughout the tournament, outlasting her 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a breathtaking match that left the crowd and those watching worldwide in awe.
To open the game, Swiatek looked comfortable right out the gate racing to a 3-0 lead in the first 10 minutes at Court Philippe Chatrier - taking 12 of the initial 15 points- and then was ahead 3-0 in the second set as Muchova struggled with errors early on.
Then the second set happened… Swiatek didn’t look like herself as she had a second set crisis that saw her make errors and seem to lose her confidence during that part of the match as she looked to her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski- or her sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz for answers as Muchova started to find her rhythm.
Muchova grabbed five of six games while pulling even at a set apiece. She carried that momentum into the deciding set, going ahead by a break twice.
Muchova pushing Swiatek to the bring helped unleash the lion from within, which helped her become the best women’s player in the world by eventually overtaking the match with precise, sharp, and clean hits on the red clay as she finally took the next three games of the match.
The match ended on a double fault from Muchova that resulted in Swiatek dropping down on her knees with her hands in her face crying as she once again reigns her dominance in women’s tennis by winning her third women’s single French Open title (2020. 2022, 2023) in the last four years.
Swiatek, 22, is the youngest woman with four Grand Slam Trophy championships since the great Serena Williams was 20 back in 2002 when she claimed the U.S. Open crown that year.
Swiatek also becomes the first player to win back-to-back Roland Garros championships since Williams did it in 2016… Talk about supreme utter dominance over the sport that seems to be getting increasingly more competitive each year.
Swiatek cruised through the tournament for the most part, winning the first five matches to start the tournament and winning four of her first six sets without ceding a game.
She’s never been known for easing into a match and always coming with a full wrath of fire out of the cannon. Swiatek is just 22 and nothing seems to be able to slow her down as she also made history becoming the third woman in the Open Era to start 4-0 in major finals (Monica Seles, Naomi Osaka).
She expressed her love for the French Open: "I really love being here," Swiatek said. "Basically, it's my favorite place on tour."
The French Open sure seems to love you to Swiatek, as she seems to be on a legendary path to becoming one of the game’s greats; similar to her predecessors in Williams, Margaret Court, Billie Jean King, and so on.
Only time will tell, but she’s for sure off to a mesmerizing start to her pro career.
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