FRENCH OPEN
TEENAGER IGA SWIATEK DAZZLES IN PARIS TO CLAIM FIRST GRAND SLAM TITLE
Securing a first Grand Slam title is supposed to be an arduous undertaking but 19-year-old Iga Swiatek crowned an extraordinary fortnight to win the French Open in a blaze of winners on Saturday (Oct 10), crushing Sofia Kenin 6-4 6-1.
Swiatek, who had dropped only 23 games en route to the final, produced another audacious display of shot-making to become Poland’s first Grand Slam singles champion.
Only briefly did Swiatek falter, letting slip a 3-0 lead, but having edged a tight opening set she romped to victory.
Not since German great Steffi Graf went through the fortnight dropping only 20 games in 1988 has a woman won the French Open in such commanding style.
Australian Open champion Kenin, herself only 21, needed treatment at 1-2 in the second set and on the resumption Swiatek was utterly ruthless, conceding only three more points, sealing the title with an unstoppable forehand, her 25th winner.
Swiatek, ranked 54th at the start of the tournament but now into the top 20, is the youngest woman to win the French Open since Monica Seles in 1992 and the first to do so without dropping a set during the fortnight since Justine Henin in 2007.
After claiming victory, the former Wimbledon junior champion made her way into the stands to celebrate with her team including father Tomasz, a former Olympic rower, coach Piotr Sierzputowski and sport psychologist Daria Abramowicz.
“I’m overwhelmed. Two years ago I won a junior grand slam and now I’m here. It feels like such a short time,” Swiatek, the lowest-ranked woman to win the French Open since rankings were introduced in 1975, said after returning to court to lift the Suzanne Lenglen trophy.
“It had to be like that, another underdog won a Grand Slam in women’s tennis. It is so often right now that it is crazy.”
She will no longer be an underdog and her rapid rise continues an exciting time for women’s tennis which is blessed with a new brigade including the likes of 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu (20) and Coco Gauff (16).
Kenin belongs on that list but it was a sad end to her tournament as she was unable to find the form that saw her beat Garbine Muguruza to win the Australian Open in February.
She was crestfallen and teary-eyed at the end.
“I’m disappointed and upset, she played great and is hot right now,” Moscow-born Kenin told reporters.
“A few things didn’t go my way in the first set and then my leg wasn’t in the best condition.”
Swiatek began on the shady side of the sparsely-populated Court Philippe Chatrier court with Kenin in bright sunshine, but it was the Pole’s tennis that illuminated the 84-minute final.
She began as freely as if it was a match at her local club in Warsaw, losing three points in opening a 3-0 lead.
Kenin, whose tightly-wound demeanour was a stark contrast to Swiatek’s calm approach, fought back to 3-3 as her backhand began to do some damage.
Swiatek came through a tense service game at 3-3 and in the best passage of play in the final then broke Kenin after another long game in which she saved a game point with a superb drop volley having chased down a drop shot.
She fluffed a set point at 5-3 and Kenin broke with a glorious backhand to trail 5-4 but Swiatek was feasting on the American’s serve and broke again to take the opener.
Swiatek dropped serve at the start of the second set but never looked ruffled and hit back immediately.
Kenin faded rapidly after she had her left thigh heavily taped, but surely Swiatek might tighten as glory beckoned?
No chance. Instead confirmed herself as the sport’s latest sensation by bashing winners for fun.
“A joy to watch,” Tracey Austin, who won the 1979 U.S. Open aged 16, said on Twitter. “Makes it look so easy. More majors ahead!!”
-Reuters
Newly-crowned French Open champion Coco Gauff, the first Black American to win the title in a decade, said on Saturday her victory in Paris was for people back home who looked like her and struggled amid ongoing political turmoil.
Gauff battled from a set down to beat Aryna Sabalenka 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 and lift her first French Open crown and her second Grand Slam title after the 2023 U.S. Open.
She is the first Black American to win the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015.
“It means a lot (to win the title), and obviously there’s a lot going on in our country right now with things — like, everything, yeah. I’m sure you guys know,” she said, smiling but without elaborating further.
“But just to be able to be a representation of that and a representation of, I guess, people that look like me in America who maybe don’t feel as supported during this time period, and so just being that reflection of hope and light for those people.”
There has been ongoing political turmoil in the United States following the election of President Donald Trump last year.
Trump’s first few months in office have featured an unapologetic assault on diversity and inclusion efforts, unravelling decades-old policies to remedy historical injustices for marginalised groups in a matter of weeks.
In his second term, Trump revoked a landmark 1965 executive order mandating equal employment opportunities for all, slashed environmental actions to protect communities of colour and ordered the gutting of an agency that helped fund minority and women-owned businesses.
The actions have alarmed advocates, who say they effectively erase decades of hard-fought progress on levelling the playing field for marginalised communities.
“I remember after the election and everything, it kind of felt a down period a little bit and my mom told me during Riyadh (in November 2024) ‘just try to win the tournament, just to give something for people to smile for’.
“So that’s what I was thinking about today when holding that (trophy).
“Then seeing the flags in the crowd means a lot. You know, some people may feel some type of way about being patriotic and things like that, but I’m definitely patriotic and proud to be American, and I’m proud to represent the Americans that look like me and people who kind of support the things that I support.”
Trump has previously denied claims he has employed racist attacks and an agenda throughout his political career.
-Reuters
Paris St Germain forward Ousmane Dembele got a roaring welcome usually reserved for tennis champions when he carried the freshly-won Champions League trophy onto centre court on Monday.
The French soccer club beat Inter Milan 5-0 in the showcase match in Munich on Saturday to clinch the trophy for the first time before the players and staff got a heroes’ welcome in the French capital on Sunday.
The festivities for Dembele, who was voted the Champions League Player of the Season, continued on Monday when he carried the shiny trophy onto Court Philippe Chatrier in front of more than 10,000 people.
He was wearing a white T-shirt with the word “triumph” written on it.
Paris St Germain’s Ousmane Dembele presents the Champions League trophy on the Philippe-Chatrier court before the fourth round match between Serbia’s Novak Djokovic and Britain’s Cameron Norrie REUTERS/Denis Balibouse
Organisers could not have timed the brief ceremony better, with Europe’s most prestigious soccer club trophy arriving minutes after world number 361 and wild card Lois Boisson of France stunned third-seeded American Jessica Pegula in three sets to reach the last eight in the upset of the tournament.
“Ici c’est Paris, (This is Paris)” shouted Dembele as the normally more reserved afternoon tennis crowd erupted with cheers.
“Exceptional, it was a magic moment in Munich. We played an exceptional season and were rewarded with our first European Cup,” France international Dembele told the crowd.
“The individual titles are fine but it is the collective titles that matter. We will try to win as many titles as possible.”
Novak Djokovic, the 24-times Grand Slam champion and three-times winner in Paris, was on court later for a straight sets win over Briton Cameron Norrie and he was quick to congratulate the Paris club, having joined in PSG’s Sunday festivities.
“An incredible season for PSG so congratulations to all Parisians,” the Serb said after his 100th career win on the Roland Garros clay. “It was amazing to be there yesterday.
“Two days ago during the game I was playing and it was a bit complicated to get to my hotel afterwards, complicated being an understatement. The roads were quite the show.”
PSG are only the second French side to win the European Cup after Olympique de Marseille in 1993.
-Reuters
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Fourth round action continued at the French Open on Monday with top seeds Jannik Sinner and Coco Gauff in action while Novak Djokovic chases a milestone 100th win at Roland Garros.
British hopes rest on Cameron Norrie and fifth seed Jack Draper, who is up against the entertaining Alexander Bublik in the night session.
TOP MEN’S MATCH: NOVAK DJOKOVIC V CAMERON NORRIE
Djokovic came into the French Open having won his 100th career title at the Geneva Open and in the fourth round he can achieve something only 14-times champion Rafa Nadal has accomplished — 100 wins on the red clay at Roland Garros.
Djokovic’s third round victory over Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic was his 99th, equalling his own mark at the Australian Open where he has won the title 10 times. He also has 97 wins at Wimbledon and 90 at the U.S. Open.
“I’m just hoping to carry on. Every time I step onto this court I’m playing for history,” Djokovic said.
But if the sixth seed is to surpass Nadal’s jaw-dropping record of 112 wins at the French Open, Djokovic will find himself playing into his 40s.
Standing in Djokovic’s way is Briton Cameron Norrie, who downed Daniil Medvedev in the first round and has reached the last-16 for the first time in his career
“That match with Daniil was so tough, it was such a big test for me. To get through that, I thought I can take a lot of confidence from that,” Norrie said.
“To make the second week for the first time is so, so good and at a time where I was not really stringing a lot of matches and a lot of wins together.”
But he has work to do with Djokovic yet to drop a set while the Briton has lost all five matches he has played against the former world number one, including the semi-final in Geneva last month.
The pair played out a tense encounter in Rome in 2023 where Djokovic criticised Norrie’s attitude. Norrie hit an overhead smash at Djokovic’s leg when the Serbian had turned his back on the net having given up on a point.
TOP WOMEN’S MATCH: MIRRA ANDREEVA V DARIA KASATKINA
Andreeva has yet to drop a set at Roland Garros this year and the Russian sixth seed showed she means business when she packed off Yulia Putintseva by winning nine of the last 10 games in their third-round encounter.
But Russian-born Kasatkina, who now represents Australia, is high on confidence after knocking out 10th seed Paula Badosa in straight sets.
Andreeva and Kasatkina practice together and the Russian 18-year-old said: “It’s going to be an entertaining match, for sure, because I think we both know each other very well. I think it’s going to be fun and also maybe pretty tight.”
Andreeva is looking to better her semi-final run at Roland Garros last year while Kasatkina beat her in the only match they have played, a roller-coaster three-setter in Ningbo last year.
“Mirra, she’s a very nice girl and an amazing player. We’ve been quite good with each other. I can even say that I think we are kind of friends,” Kasatkina said.
“The last one in Ningbo was a big drama match. Let’s see what’s going to happen here. We never met on clay before.”
-Reuters
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