Gauff stuns Sabalenka to win the French Open, continuing the American comeback

Coco Gauff’s incredible Grand Slam season for American women continued on Saturday as she overcame a set deficit to defeat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in a dull French Open final to win her first Roland Garros title.

After defeating Serena Williams in 2015, the 21-year-old became the first American to win the Paris singles trophy and the youngest American to do so since her celebrated countrywoman in 2002.

With a breakthrough victory in the 2023 U.S. Open, Gauff’s pedigree was verified on the largest platform, and the victory, which comes after colleague Madison Keys’ victory at the Australian Open, helped erase memories of her heartbreaking 2022 loss to Iga Swiatek.

“I was going through a lot of things when I lost here three years ago,” said Gauff, who has won both of her major championships after defeating Sabalenka in a set.

Simply said, I’m happy to be back. I was thinking about a lot of bad things. A trio of finals… I suppose the biggest victory went to me. “That’s all that matters,” the American said, after tripping at the last hurdle in last month’s Madrid and Rome finals.

During her news announcement, Gauff dedicated her triumph to “Americans who look like me.” Later, she offered some light relief when she dropped the Suzanne Lenglen Cup lid while posing for a picture.

ERRORS THAT ARE UNFORCED

Although Paris was assured of a new champion, the first major final match involving the top two women in the world rankings since the 2018 Australian Open fell short of expectations on Court Philippe Chatrier, as the match featured 100 unforced errors overall.

In the third game, Sabalenka broke to love with shrewd play at the net and combined exquisite drop drops and raw power to lead 4-1 in the opening set. This was her third consecutive Grand Slam final, but the first on the slowest surface in the sport.

The boisterous center court audience encouraged Gauff to extend the match, and she persevered after falling behind 0–40 following a bad service game by Sabalenka. After eight games, they were tied.

After both players made a ton of mistakes in windy conditions, Gauff forced a tiebreak with a brilliant backhand winner, but he wasted a 4-1 lead as Sabalenka stormed back to win the first set.

The second plant After her opponent’s incredible unforced error count rose to 51, Gauff leveled the match and up the ante in the second set, winning four of the first five games.

“It was super tough when I walked on the court and felt the wind, because we warmed up with the roof closed,” Gauff said.

“This was going to be a difficult day, and I knew that it would only require willpower,” I said. The final few points were crucial, but all in all, I’m rather pleased with the battle I won today.

“It wasn’t pretty, but it got the job done, and that’s all that matters.”

EXCITING CELEBRATIONS

In the decisive set, the 2022 Paris runner-up went one step further to take a 3-1 lead when Sabalenka rallied, but she found her composure just in time to seal the victory and send her fans into a frenzy.

Gauff fell to the ground in shock, then burst into tears of happiness and ran up the stands to embrace her team, while Sabalenka was forced to deal with yet another major final loss following her loss to Keys in the January Australian Open title match.

After her triumphs at the U.S. Open last year and the Australian Open in 2023–24, the 27-year-old was denied the opportunity to become the only active woman on tour to win singles titles at three of the four Grand Slams.

Sabalenka, who was crying, remarked, “Congratulations to you and your team; you’re a fighter and a hard worker.”

According to the three-time major champion, after a strong two weeks, the final was forgettable.

“It was honestly the worst tennis I’ve played in the last, I don’t know how many months,” she said.

“She was just better in these surroundings, and they were awful. My worst final ever was the one.