Roland-Garros 2023: Iga Swiatek outlasts Karolina Muchova to retain French Open title
The Pole survived a fine comeback to win 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 and make it three triumphs in four years at Roland-Garros.
Tennis
Iga Swiatek needed all of her fighting qualities to clinch her third French Open singles title in Paris on Saturday.
The world number one took two hours and 49 minutes to defeat surprise finalist Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 and win her fourth tennis Grand Slam tournament.
It came after a heart-stopping deciding set which swung one way and then the other, but it was the Pole who shaded a thrilling and emotional encounter.
In marked contrast to her comfortable wins in two previous Roland-Garros finals, Swiatek trailed 4-3 in the third with Muchova unable to seal victory in her first Slam final after a couple of injury-ravaged years.
Swiatek has now won her first four Slam finals, joining Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka as the only women to do so in the Open era.
"I was really struck with your variety on court and I really hope we are going to have many more finals." - Iga Swiatek to Karolina Muchova during her winner's speech
Swiatek pushed to the limit by Muchova fightback
Right from the start, Swiatek impressed with her power and accuracy from the baseline as Muchova scrambled to stay alive in rallies.
The pre-tournament favourite broke to lead 2-0 with her unseeded opponent struggling to gain any sort of foothold early on.
Muchova finally held for 1-3 and then forced a break point which she just failed to convert, sending her volley long from a fizzing Swiatek crosscourt backhand.
And Swiatek completed a superb first set - making just five unforced errors - with a break to love to take it 6-2.
After a comfortable hold at the start of the second set, the 22-year-old broke Muchova's serve to move a step closer to retaining her title.
The underdog held for 1-3 and a superb down-the-line forehand on the stretch saw her break for the first time as she tried to follow up Thursday's gritty semi-final win over number two seed Aryna Sabalenka.
Swiatek suddenly started to look vulnerable, looking to her entourage for help for the first time. And a double fault at break point saw Muchova go 5-4 up with the chance to serve out for the set.
She was unable to complete the job with Swiatek breaking back to 15 for 5-5. But then Muchova broke again for 6-5 before bringing up set point from 0-30 down.
And somehow, having looked down and out at the start of the second set, the Czech converted her third chance to level the match as Swiatek dropped her first set of the tournament.
Muchova made the perfect start to the decider, breaking to lead 2-0, but Swiatek - like a flick of a switch - was soon back to the form she showed in the opening set as she won the next three games in succession.
Then came another break for Muchova to lead 4-3 as Swiatek faltered, but the Pole dug deep to break once more before holding to leave her opponent serving to stay in the match.
A couple of errors from Muchova handed the favourite two match points, and a double fault saw Swiatek became the eighth woman in the Open era to win three French Open titles.
In her on-court post-match speech, Swiatek thanked her family, her travelling support from Poland and her team, saying, "I know that we won this tournament but it's not easy and being on tour for a couple of weeks without breaks, it's tough.
"I'm really happy that we can feel satisfied right now and just celebrate."
Multiple French Open women's singles champions (Open era):
7 - Chris Evert (USA)
6 - Steffi Graf (GER)
4 - Justine Henin (BEL)
3 - Margaret Court (AUS), Arantxa Sanchez Vicario (ESP), Monica Seles (SCG), Serena Williams (USA), Iga Swiatek (POL)
2 - Martina Navratilova (USA), Maria Sharapova (RUS)