Iga Swiatek routs Jasmine Paolini to win third straight French Open title
The queen of clay defended her crown and left no doubt about her dominance on her best surface.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek won her third consecutive women's singles title at the French Open on Saturday, making quick work of Jasmine Paolini by winning 11 of the match's last 12 games and overwhelming the first-time finalist 6-2, 6-1.
"It's amazing to be here, I love this place. Honestly, I wait every year to come back here," Swiatek said after the match. "It's been a really emotional tournament."
She is just the third woman to win three French Open titles in a row in the Open Era, after Monica Seles (1990-1992) and Justine Henin (2005-2007). She is also the first women's three-peat winner of any major since Serena Williams won three U.S. Open championships from 2012 to 2014.
Swiatek, who is 5-0 in Grand Slam finals, has now won 21 straight matches at Roland Garros. Her latest victory, which only took an hour and eight minutes, was her fourth championship in five years at the clay-court major and fifth Grand Slam title. At 23 years old, Swiatek is the youngest player in the Open era history to win four Roland-Garros titles.
The 28-year-old Paolini, who entered the tournament as the No. 12 seed, was in her first major final for the first time after never making it past the second round in any previous Grand Slam event.
In the first set, Paolini broke Swiatek in the second game, only for the world's No. 1 player to break back in the next game, winning eight of the next nine points, including a winner down the line on a brilliant 25-shot rally. Swiatek went on to win the next four games, taking the first set in an efficient 33 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second set, with Swiatek breaking the Italian in the second game thanks to three straight unforced errors and having Paolini, who only had seven winners in the match, running around the court trying to catch up to her powerful forehand.
"I think to play you here is the toughest challenge in this sport," Paolini told Swiatek.
Paolini still has a chance to win a title in Paris on Sunday, as she and Sara Errani will face Coco Gauff and Katerina Siniakova for the women's doubles championship.
Contributing: Reuters