Iga Swiatek secured her fourth French Open title of her nascent career with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Jasmine Paolini. The Pole won a fifth Grand Slam crown in one hour and eight minutes, 6-2 6-1, on Court Philippe-Chatrier. The world No. 1 bossed the contest from start to finish against the debutante Grand Slam finalist, despite surviving an early scare when Paolini broke her.
Iga Swiatek won the fourth French Open title of her career as she cruised past Jasmine Paolini in straight sets.
The world No. 1 came through the Italian 6-2 6-1 on Court Philippe-Chatrier to secure her fifth Grand Slam title.
The top seed survived an initial scare as she was broken in the third game of the opening set by her determined opponent, with Paolini making her Grand Slam final debut.
However, Swiatek’s nous and quality shone through as she broke back immediately, before hammering home her own break advantage at 4-2.
She closed out the opener with a double-break as Paolini’s error count rose, with a final backhand into the net rounding off the first in 34 minutes.
The second set was much of the same, as Paolini continued to try and hit bigger, growing more and more frustrated as Swiatek just kept getting better and better.
The Pole broke in the second game as Paolini blazed a wayward forehand wide, and then again with a delicious backhand return winner for 4-0.
She dug in to serve out the second set – and the championship – as Paolini threatened a late resurgence, but that was quickly quashed as a Paolini forehand flew long teed up a championship point, and a vicious, unreturnable serve out wide did the rest.
Paolini flew out of the blocks in the opening games, looking to go toe-to-toe with Swiatek from a power perspective.
Her bold approach seemed to be working, as she put the pressure on the Pole to get to 40-30 on her opening service game, before holding firm and getting herself into the contest at 1-1 as she forced Swiatek into some mistakes.
Her strategy of hitting big paid dividends in the third game as she broke the world No. 1, teeing up two break points with a magnificent backhand up the line and dropshot combination, before Swiatek blasted a forehand long.
However, it all went downhill from there for the 12th seed, with Swiatek biting back, breaking to love at 2-2, finding her depth and rhythm off both wings to begin bossing the encounter.
Her persistence paid off to make it 4-2 as Paolini double faulted, and the Italian’s frustrations were growing.
A forehand pass from Paolini kept the pressure on the Swiatek serve in the following game, but any lingering hope that she had was quickly wiped out by a quick one-two punch from the top seed to stretch her lead to three games.
Paolini was beginning to unravel, and Swiatek broke one last time to take the opening set as the Italian slammed a backhand angrily into the net.
Swiatek kept her momentum rolling in the second, stepping inside the court to dictate with her groundstrokes, as well as hitting winners from on or behind the baseline.
She held comfortably in the opening game as Paolini had lost all sense of control off her service return, and Swiatek consolidated the hold with an early break in the second game as Paolini ballooned a forehand into the tramlines.
She held with a brilliant backhand line winner before breaking once more to go up 4-0 with a stupendous backhand return winner that caught out the approaching Paolini.
The Italian still could not crack her opponent’s serve as Swiatek followed up the double-break with a comfortable hold, but Paolini doggedly notched herself a second-set tally with an inspired service hold to force the three-time champion to serve out the affair.
She did so confidently, despite Paolini doing her best to stop her, and she added another Grand Slam trophy to her cabinet.
“Congrats for an amazing tournament [Jasmine],” Swiatek said post-match.
“I’m really impressed how you’ve played these last two weeks, and you can do a lot, especially on clay. I hope we’re going to have many more matches in final rounds. I want to thank my team and family; without them I wouldn’t be here. It’s amazing to be here.
“I love this place; I wait every year to come back here. Merci beaucoup, I love you. I was almost out of the tournament in the second round so thank you guys for staying behind me and cheering for me. I needed to believe that this was possible. It’s been an emotional tournament. Thank you for supporting me.”
During her post-match interview, Paolini said: “I really enjoyed playing on this court today.
“I have to say congratulations to you, Iga. To play you here is the toughest challenge in this sport. Congrats to your team also. You are doing an amazing job. World No.1, many Slams. Congratulations. I want to thank my team, family, and everyone for cheering and believing in me every day. Congratulations to everyone who made this tournament possible.
“It’s been 10, 15 days that I’ve been here; the best days of my life. They’re still going because tomorrow I have the doubles final. I really enjoyed [it]. Thank you, Amelie [Mauresmo], this is an unbelievable tournament.
“It’s been a very intense 15 days and I’m really happy. I’m proud of [myself] for being here. It was tough, but I’m proud of myself anyway. Merci beaucoup, Paris; you were cheering for me, and it was unbelievable.”
You can watch every day of the 2024 French Open live and on-demand on discovery+
