Iga Swiatek romped to a straight-sets win over Italian Jasmine Paolini in the final of the French Open 2024 women’s singles event to claim their third straight title at the Roland Garros.
Swiatek made quick work of her opponent as she marched to a 6-2, 6-1 win over the 28-year-old Paolini in the summit clash of the clay court event on Saturday.
The 23-year-old also became the first woman to claim a hattrick of majors on a surface since Serena Williams did so, and the first to do it at the Roland Garros since Justin Hennin
The win gave the Pole her fourth title on clay and her fifth Grand Slam crown overall. She also became the youngest to four Roland Garros titles with her statement win over her Italian counterpart in Paris.
The 12th-seeded Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy, was appearing in a Slam final for the first time.
She had never been past the second round at one of the four most important tennis tournaments until getting to the fourth round at the Australian Open in January. Paolini will play in the French Open women’s doubles final on Sunday with partner Sara Errani against 2023 U.S. Open singles champion Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova.
Riding a 20-match winning streak in Paris, and a winner of 18 straight matches this year after titles in Madrid and Rome, Swiatek quickly set about her business.
She powered an ace to hold in the opening game and had Paolini backpedalling down break point, but the Italian ground out a gutsy hold and then broke Swiatek when the Pole flayed a forehand long.
That triggered a searing riposte from Swiatek, who broke to love to get back on serve and then surged 4-2 in front after Paolini coughed up a costly double-fault.
Swiatek had her opponent constantly scurrying around the court and the errors began to stack up for Paolini, who conceded the first set with a weak groundstroke into the net.
With Swiatek firmly in the ascendancy, Paolini looked lost for answers as the top seed oozed confidence and repeatedly took control of the rallies.
Had it not been for an astonishing recovery against Naomi Osaka in the second round when she saved a match point, Swiatek would have suffered her earliest Grand Slam exit at the French Open.
Instead that fright served to ignite her title aspirations, reigning Wimbledon and US Open champions — Marketa Vondrousova and Coco Gauff — powerless to stop the Swiatek offensive.
Swiatek had difficulty putting away Karolina Muchova last year when heavily fancied, but there was no such trouble 12 months on as the Pole dismantled Paolini to underline her burgeoning status as the ‘Queen of clay’.
The three games won by Paolini was the fewest in the final here since Henin obliterated Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 in 2007, which also coincided with the Belgian’s fourth Roland Garros title in five years.
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