PARIS: World No.1 Iga Swiatek captured her third French Open singles title and second in a row at Roland Garros following a roller-coaster victory over Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic here on Saturday.
It was the fourth Grand Slam trophy for Swiatek, reported Xinhua.
The Pole sealed a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory after two hours and 46 minutes in a match that ended with an unexpected double fault from her Czech opponent.
Thus Swiatek became the first woman to finish back-to-back in Paris since Justine Henin in 2007.
“I don’t know what I felt,“ Swiatek told a crowded press room.
“It’s hard to describe. But a lot of happiness. I felt suddenly tired of these three weeks. Maybe my matches weren’t like physically exhausting, but it’s pretty hard to kind of keep your focus for these almost three weeks,” she added.
Reaching the final yet to drop a set in the previous six matches, the top seed had to dig deep to withstand a strong fightback from Muchova.
Muchova broke twice for a lead in a back-and-forth decider, only to see the defending champion break back before holding a crucial service in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead.
The 22-year-old then surged to 40-15 in the 10th game when Muchova served, and the latter committed a double fault to hand the victory to Swiatek.
In their only previous meeting before the final, Muchova triumphed 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the round of 32 of Prague Open in 2019,
Despite her loss at the final hurdle, Muchova had already made a career breakthrough in Paris, as the world No. 43 stunned second seed Aryna Sabalenka to secure her debut in a Grand Slam final.
The 26-year-old Czech had shown her resilience in the epic semifinal when she rallied from 5-2 down in the decider to turn the tide and dispatch the reigning Australian Open champion.
Swiatek will stay in the world No.1 place with this brilliant French Open title, while Muchova will return to the top 20 following her exceptional fortnight in Paris. -Bernama