PARIS: Coco Gauff said a maiden French Open trophy was “one I really wanted” after securing the title with victory over Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday.

The 21-year-old secured a hard-fought 6-7 (5/7), 6-2, 6-4 win over the world number one in difficult, windy conditions at Roland Garros.

“I felt like this is one I really wanted, because I do think this was one of the tournaments that when I was younger that I felt I had the best shot of winning,” said American star Gauff. “So I just felt like if I went through my career and didn’t get at least one of these, I would feel regrets and stuff.

“Today, playing Aryna, I was just, ‘I just gotta go for it and try my best to get through the match’.”

The 27-year-old Sabalenka quickly asserted herself, racing ahead by taking four of the first five games.

The top seed led 4-1 with a double-break in her semi-final win over Swiatek before being forced into a tie-break.

She gifted Gauff a glimmer of hope too, throwing away the sixth game from 40-0 up with two double-faults and a tame backhand into the bottom of the net.

Gauff made it 12 points in a row and levelled the set on her fifth break point of the eighth game when Sabalenka fired another groundstroke long.

She could not build on that momentum and immediately gave the break straight back.

But Sabalenka failed to serve out the set in a tense game, missing two set points — the first with another double-fault — as Gauff eventually extended the opener by taking her fifth break point.

Both players continued to struggle on serve in the breeze, Sabalenka breaking for fourth time in the set but again unable to close it out.

The first tie-break in the opening set of a women’s French Open final since 1998 saw Sabalenka finally clinch the set after 77 minutes with a run of four straight points.

It was the longest set in a women’s Grand Slam final since the Williams sisters faced off at Wimbledon in 2002 and longer than last year’s final between Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini.

Gauff started the second set on the front foot, though, moving into a 4-1 lead with a double-break.

Unlike Sabalenka in the first set, Gauff saw it out with few problems, sending the match into a decider on her first set point with a confident smash at the net.

The US star also struck first blood in the third, breaking in game three as Sabalenka sent down her fifth double-fault. Sabalenka managed to drag it back to 3-3, but immediately was broken to love as Gauff edged towards the title.

Gauff was denied on her first match point by a booming Sabalenka return onto the baseline and then had to save a break point. But she got over the line at the second time of asking, falling to the clay in celebration.

It was a second straight Grand Slam final loss for Sabalenka after her defeat by Madison Keys at the Australian Open in January.

“Honestly guys, it hurts so much, especially after such a tough two weeks when I played such great tennis in these terrible conditions,” said Sabalenka, whose unforced error tally in the final was the highest by any player in a women’s match this tournament.

“To show such terrible tennis in the final, it does really hurt.”

Published in Dawn, June 10th, 2025