Sunday, June 09, 2024
Saturday, June 08, 2024
Iga Swiatek pulls off Roland Garros 3-peat for her 5th Grand Slam title
From a break deficit in the first set Saturday, Swiatek was dominant over the course of 1 hour and 8 minutes to become the first woman in 10 years to win three straight titles at any of the sport's four Grand Slams.
After failing to convert a break point in Paolini's first service game, Swiatek lost serve for the only time in the match -- hitting three first-ball unforced errors -- but quickly regrouped. Two groundstroke winners bookended a break back at love, and the start of what was an 10-game streak that helped her race to a fourth career Roland Garros crown.
Swiatek made some history in more ways than one, and the events of the year's second Grand Slam event have some other implications for the overall landscape of the Hologic WTA Tour
She adds her name to more pages in the record books: Swiatek's hat trick makes her the first woman since Serena Williams won the US Open from 2012-14 to win three straight trophies at any major. She is the first woman to win three straight titles at Roland Garros since Justine Henin in 2005-07, and just the third to do it ever. Monica Seles also did it from 1992-94.
Her 21 straight victories at the tournament, in fact, give her sole possession of fourth place on the list of longest winning streaks at the tournament in the Open Era, behind seven-time champion Chris Evert (29), Seles (25) and Henin (24).
Improving to 5-0 in major finals, Swiatek is also the third player to win her first five, or more, major finals in the Open Era following Margaret Court and Seles.
"This tournament has been pretty surreal with its beginning and with second round, and then I was able to get my game better and better every match," Swiatek said afterwards. "I'm really proud of myself, because the expectations obviously have been pretty high from the outside. Pressure, as well. I'm happy that I just went for it and I was ready to deal with all of this. Yeah, and I could win.
"Looking at the whole situation and the fact that during the finals there is sometimes a lot of pressure, I think it was a really good match. I got broken at the beginning, so it wasn't maybe perfect, but I think the level was pretty high. It wasn't so easy as the score says. I think I played pretty well considering all these facts and the pressure."
She joins an exclusive club: Swiatek trailed 5-2 in the third set of her second-round match against Naomi Osaka, but became the 31st Hologic WTA Tour match of 2024 that saw the eventual winner save at least one match point. By winning the title, she enters further rarified air: She is the 12 woman to go all the way to the trophy at a Grand Slam.
It's happened 15 times in total at a Grand Slam event in the Open Era, as Serena Williams achieved the feat three times. But doing it at Roland Garros puts Swiatek on a list with Anastasia Myskina (2004), Henin (2005) and Barbora Krejcikova (2021).
She's staying on top, but there's movement underneath: Swiatek has a vice grip on the top spot of the PIF WTA Rankings, but there will be new milestones achieved underneath her on Monday, when she'll begin her 107th week in the top spot.
Coco Gauff is set to rise to a career-high World No.2, while Paolini will crack the Top 10 for the first time at World No.7. Paolini, 28, will be the fifth Italian to rank inside the world's Top 10 in the Open Era after Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.
Madrid, Rome and Paris. Iga Swiatek you absolute legend. Truly the queen of clay. Phenomenal.
3rd Roland Garros in a row (4th over all putting her ahead of Serena and Sharapova).
5th Grand Slam title. Tied with Hingis and Sharapova at a just 23 years old.
First woman to win 3 consecutive years as world #1
So much history, so many emotions.
Iga was so overwhelmed today in her speech. You could see how much this meant to her and the relief she felt (I'm sure she thought about how close she came to not winning it this year in round 2).
Get some well deserved rest champ. We'll see you on the grass.
Jazda!
Świątek winning 4 Roland Garros titles in 5 years is one of the 5 most dominant runs ever at one Grand Slam in the Open Era.
Graf | 5 titles in 6 years at WC
Goolagong | 4 in 5 at AO
Court | 4 in 5 at AO
Henin | 4 in 5 at RG
Świątek | 4 in 5 at RG
4 - Iga Swiatek has become the women's player with the most Grand Slam titles at a single Major event in their first 6 main draw appearances (4); equalling Seles & Margaret Court at the Australian Open, and Evert at the French Open. Wow.
For the fourth time since the WTA Rankings were published in 1975, the World No.1 has saved match point(s) en route to secure a Women's Singles Grand Slam title. Heart.
List of Players with more than 3 Roland Garros title's at age 23: (across tours) - Björn Rune Borg - Rafael Nadal Parera - Iga Natalia Świątek
Iga Swiatek has become the player with the joint-fewest games dropped combined from the Round of 16 onwards (11) to secure a Women's Singles Grand Slam in the Open Era. Wordless! (tied with Navratilova and Evert)
5 - Iga Swiatek is the second player in the Open Era to win all her first five Women's Singles Grand Slam finals after Monica Seles. Godly.
23,8 - At 23 years and 8 days, Iga Swiatek has become the youngest player in the Open Era to secure their fourth Women’s Singles title at Roland Garros. Superstar.
4th Roland Garros title
5th Slam title
21 consecutive wins at RG
19 consecutive wins on clay
Thursday, June 06, 2024
Iga Swiatek makes third straight final at Roland Garros
World No.1 Iga Swiatek stands a win away from her fourth Roland Garros title after a 6-2, 6-4 victory over No.3 seed Coco Gauff in Thursday's semifinals.
Under bright skies on Court Philippe Chatrier, Poland's Swiatek took 1 hour and 37 minutes to get past American Gauff for the 11th time in their 12 career meetings.
"I think most of the things overall in my game worked today, so I'm proud of myself," Swiatek said after her latest win.
To capture her fifth career Grand Slam title, Swiatek will have to beat first-time Grand Slam finalist Jasmine Paolini of Italy on Saturday. No.12 seed Paolini ousted 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1 in Thursday's second semifinal.
Swiatek has a 2-0 head-to-head lead over Paolini, winning their first meeting at an ITF Challenger event in Prague, on clay, 6-2, 6-1. Swiatek next beat Paolini 6-3, 6-0 in the first round of the 2022 US Open -- an event Swiatek went on to win, for her lone Grand Slam title outside of Paris to date.
Big streaks continue: The numbers continue to build for Swiatek. She is the third player since 2000 to make three consecutive French Open women's singles finals, joining Justine Henin (2005-2007) and Maria Sharapova (2012-2014).
Swiatek has won 20 straight matches at the tournament, making her only the fifth woman in the Open Era to win 20 consecutive matches at Roland Garros. She joins Chris Evert (29 straight, 1984-1991), Monica Seles (25, 1990-1996), Justine Henin (24, 2005-2010), and Stefanie Graf (20, 1987-1989).
The 23-year-old Swiatek is also the second-youngest player in the Open Era to make four French Open finals, older only than Stefanie Graf, who was 20 when she made her fourth Roland Garros final in 1990.
Swiatek is also in the midst of another lengthy clay-court winning streak, having now won 18 straight matches on the surface. This current run ties her longest winning streak on clay, which was 18 straight between Stuttgart and Warsaw in 2022.
"The surface makes my game better," Swiatek said. "My grip allows me to spin more. I can play more defense points because it's a bit slower, but on the other hand, I have also more time to attack sometimes. So I feel like I'm just using it well."
Tale of the tape: Gauff, who is projected to rise to a career-high World No.2 ranking in the PIF WTA Rankings on Monday, had never won a set off of Swiatek on clay. Indeed, Thursday's match started with an opening set where Swiatek never dropped serve.
However, Gauff had a chance to turn that stat around in the second set. Gauff broke for a 3-1 lead by dominating a rally, then finding the baseline with a fierce forehand.
However, Swiatek was not fazed and she immediately battled back, using powerful forehands of her own to scoop up four straight games and a 5-3 lead.
"I think I was pretty intense and putting pressure on Coco," Swiatek said. "Even though I got broken [at] the beginning of the second set, I knew that I can come back quickly, and I got my level of intensity a little bit higher to do that."
In the next game, Gauff stared down two match points on her own serve, but the American erased those chances, forcing Swiatek to serve out the match at 5-4. Swiatek was up to the challenge and converted her fourth match point after a Gauff forehand flew out of bounds.
Gauff had 27 winners to Swiatek's 10 in the showdown, but the American also had 39 unforced errors to just 14 from Swiatek. And behind their respective second serves, Swiatek was much more effective, winning 67 percent of those points, while Gauff won 32 percent.
For the first time in history there will be 2 women with Polish roots at Roland Garros.
I have been waiting for this day.
If Paolini plays like today with no nerves or fear she could make it an entertaining match.
I think Iga will win in the end but I think it'll be an enjoyable one.
I said 2 weeks ago that nothing will beat the Nomi match in round 2.
It'll remain as the best match of this year's tournament.
But I'm still very much looking forward to this final.
Jazda Iga! go get #4 you absolute legend :)
34 - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the fewest matches played at Roland Garros in the Open Era to secure 34 main draw wins (36, level with Chris Evert). Start.
8 - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the joint-most top-10 wins in Women’s Singles Grand Slam events after their first 10 such meetings in the last 40 years (eight, level with Martina Navratilova). Fearless.
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