American second seed, Coco Gauff, has claimed the women’s French Open title at Roland Garros on Saturday, coming from a set down to overcome world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, in three sets at the Philippe Chatrier court.
Sabalenka, making her first appearance in the French Open final, got her quest for a first title in Roland Garros off to a good start by breaking Gauff’s serve in the third game before extending the lead to 4-1 by breaking the American’s serve again.
A double-fault from Sabalenka was the opening Gauff needed to fight back as the second seed broke the Belarusian’s serve, going on to win the next two games – breaking Sabalenka’s serve again – to level the set at 4-4.
Just when Gauff was looking to retake the lead, Sabalenka regained her composure to break the American’s serve for the third time in the opening set, only for the second seeded American to break back again.
Both players exchanged breaks of serve again to take the set to a tie-break, which Gauff led 3-0 before Sabalenka managed to make it 3-4. Gauff went up 5-3 in the tie-break, but Sabalenka levelled at 5-5 before finally taking the first set after an hour and 17 minutes.
Gauff got off to a flyer in the second set, breaking Sabalenka’s serve straight away and racing to a 4-1 lead as the top seed committed errors in the second set. The Belarusian did break Gauff’s serve to make it 4-2, but was left frustrated as Gauff broke right back before sealing the second set and forcing a third set.
The American was first to break her opponent’s serve in the decider to go 2-1 up, before Sabalenka broke her serve to make it 3-3. Gauff won the next two games to be on the edge of wrapping up the set and title.
Sabalenka won the next point to make it 5-4 on her serve, but there was nothing she could do as 21-year-old Gauff held off a spirited fight from the top seed to seal a 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 win and claim a second major in her career.