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With a ruthlessness that echoed Rafa Nadal in her prime at Roland Garros, ‘Queen of Clay’ Iga Svetek cruised her way to fourth place French Open Championship singles title, dismantling Jasmine Paolini quite mercilessly on Court Philippe Chatrier.
Just 23, Swiatek’s ongoing dominance of women’s tennis was highlighted by her 6-2, 6-1 victory over surprise Italian finalist Paolini in the most one-sided of the finals on Sunday morning (AEST).
But the self-confessed “perfectionist” was left to reflect on her pride in dealing with all the expectations that now come with her outstanding Nadal-esque record in Paris.
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“I’m really proud of myself because the expectations from the outside were quite high. Pressure as well. I’m glad I just did it and was ready to deal with it all. And I could have won,” she told reporters.
“I’m a perfectionist, so there’s always pressure on me. I handle my own stress well. When external pressure hits me, it’s a little worse. But I did very well in this tournament.
“It was an emotional victory because I felt a lot of stress yesterday and this morning. And I knew that if I was just going to focus on tennis, I could kind of fight my way through, and in the end, everything went the way I wanted it to.”
In a social media post after the dust settled on her win, Swiatek revealed that this year’s French Open campaign has been tougher than it might seem.
“It doesn’t get more challenging than that,” she wrote.
“To stay disciplined for so many weeks, to focus on the right things, to be here and now. But at the same time to enjoy life, to be happy, satisfied.
“I’m so proud and grateful for my team, family, all the support – you have no idea.
“But yes… I want to say it out loud. That.was.something.else.’
The 12th seed Paolini, in her first Grand Slam final at the age of 28, came with a bold plan to face the defending champion and started with some success, confidently grabbing the first break of the match to take a 2- 1.
But that was as good as it got for the diminutive Tuscan, whose early rebound was soon curtailed as Swiatek immediately made a move to allow Paolini just four more points in the set.
Making it 21 consecutive wins at Roland Garros, Svetek is enjoying his third straight Paris Slam triumph, fourth in five years and fifth Grand Slam overall. She is the first woman with three consecutive victories in Paris since Justine Henin from 2005 to 2007 and only the third in history along with Monica Seles.
Chris Evert, the great seven-time French Open champion who presented Svetek with the Suzanne Lenglen trophy alongside fellow great Martina Navratilova, watched the performance in awe, predicting: “There’s no doubt she’ll handle me and then even win more than me.
“She is still young. She will accumulate them. After the first three matches, she played unbeatable tennis. It was almost mechanical, robotic – and I mean that as a compliment.
Swiatek, who was almost knocked out of the tournament by Naomi Osaka in the second round when she was down a match point, never looked back after that close shave, dominating all her opponents for the remainder of the tournament.
“I was almost out of the tournament in the second round, so thank you guys for getting behind me and supporting me. It was a really emotional tournament,” Swiatek told the crowd.
After being broken 2-0 down in the second set, Paolini always looked like her only hope would be to avoid the embarrassment of a second-set bagel, and at 5-0 down she drew huge cheers from a sympathetic crowd when she fired a forehand winner. to take only his third game.
After becoming the first woman since Serena Williams to complete the treble on clay at Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros in the same season, Swiatek was not to be put down, serving for her complete victory in just 68 minutes.
This made the Italian think: “She has won four titles and she is still 23. These numbers are not normal. They are amazing.”
– With Harrison Reed
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