Iga Swiatek said her fourth victory at Roland Garros was “emotional” after emphatically retaining her title as Queen of Clay at Roland Garros.
The Polish world number 1 brushed aside underdog Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-2 6-1 in one hour and eight minutes.
Clay court king Rafael Nadal may have played his last Roland Garros this year, but Swiatek proved once again that she is Roland Garros royalty too.
“When I talk about pressure, I usually put pressure on myself because of pressure from the outside,” she said.
“Obviously I’m a perfectionist, so there’s always pressure behind me. But I think I’m comfortable with my own pressure.
“It’s when the pressure from outside hits me that it’s a little worse. But I managed this tournament very well.
“It was an emotional victory, because I felt a lot of stress yesterday and today in the morning. And I knew that if I just focused on tennis, I could somehow fight back, and in the end , everything went as planned. So I felt really proud of myself.
Swiatek became only the second player to win tournaments in Madrid, Rome and the French Open in a calendar year after Serena Williams in 2013.
Swiatek is the first woman to win three consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Justine Henin in 2007 and only the third to achieve this feat in the history of the Open, along with Monica Seles.
She is undefeated in Paris since 2021, 21 matches ago, and has won 34 of her 36 matches here, a record matched only by Seles and Chris Evert.
Paolini was officially runner-up, but Naomi Osaka should probably win a trophy for being the only player to lay a glove on Swiatek all fortnight, taking her to match point in the second round in what was the match of the tournament, on either side of the draw.
Aside from Osaka, no player took more than six games from Swiatek, who at one point had won 20 straight games in three matches.
Swiatek has not lost a match at Roland Garros since 2021
Such is her dominance that there were even fears that Swiatek – who had already won a match 6-0 6-0 in 40 minutes this fortnight – would threaten the record for fastest match in 32 minutes when Steffi Graf pulverized Natasha Zvereva on the same score. during the 1988 final.
Paolini, who started outside the top 30, will be world number 7 when the rankings are updated on Monday.
“Yeah, of course, I’m really happy,” she added. “Now it’s a strange feeling. I just lost the final, but I think I should be happy with these two weeks, you know, and my new ranking.
“It’s a happy moment for me. It’s not a sad moment. Yeah, I have to admit I try to look at it that way.”
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