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Poland’s Iga Swiatek extended her French Open reign on Saturday as she thrashed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1 in the final to win a third successive Roland Garros title.
World number one Swiatek dominated Italian 12th seed Paolini, a first-time Grand Slam finalist, needing just 68 minutes to capture a fourth crown in five years in Paris.
Swiatek has now won all five Grand Slam finals she has contested. Her other victory came at the 2022 US Open.
She is the fourth woman in the Open era to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen four times — after Justine Henin, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf.
“It’s amazing to be here. I love this place. I wait every year to come back,” said Swiatek, who clicked into gear after saving a match point against Naomi Osaka in the second round.
“I was almost out of the tournament,” she said. “I also needed to believe this one is going to be possible, it’s been a really emotional tournament.”
Swiatek becomes only the third woman to win the tournament three years running. Henin, in 2005-07, was the last to do so. Monica Seles also achieved the feat as a teenager at the start of the 1990s.
At 23, her four Roland Garros titles are the same number Rafael Nadal, the record 14-time men’s champion, had at the same age.
For the 28-year-old Paolini it was a sorry conclusion, at least in singles, to an otherwise brilliant fortnight in the French capital.
