Iga Swiatek powers past Jasmine Paolini for fourth French Open crown

Jonathan Davies in French Open 08 Jun 2024

Swiatek soared to her third straight Roland Garros crown (Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo)

Iga Swiatek stormed to her fourth French Open title after a comprehensive 6-2, 6-1 rout of Jasmine Paolini in the final on Saturday.

The world number one landed her third successive crown at Roland Garros after taking just 68 minutes to power past first-time major finalist Paolini on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Swiatek, who also lifted Coupe Suzanne Lenglen in 2020, is only the fourth player to triumph at the clay-court major on four or more occasions, after Chris Evert (seven), Steffi Graf (six) and Justine Henin (four).

Adding to her titles in Madrid and Rome, the Pole became only the second woman after Serena Williams in 2013 to complete the clay-court Triple Crown.

𝗙𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗢𝗙 𝗔 𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗗 🇵🇱

🏆🏆🏆🏆@iga_swiatek | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/J2bNpAchYi

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) June 8, 2024

Swiatek had not looked back since facing match point against Naomi Osaka in round two. Indeed, she double-bagelled Anastasia Potapova in just 40 minutes, and dropped just eight games while routing reigning major champions Marketa Vondrousova and Coco Gauff in the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.

Although, she was a little slow out of the blocks and Paolini landed the first blow of her maiden major final by breaking to 15 in game three.

The 12th seed, who will climb into the world’s top 10 for the first time, had never previously progressed beyond round two at Roland Garros. However, a fairy-tale fortnight saw her defeat the likes of Bianca Andreescu, Elena Rybakina and teenage sensation Mirra Andreeva to become the first Italian woman to appear in a grand slam showpiece since Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci contested the 2015 US Open final.

𝗖𝗹𝗮𝘆-𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘁 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗻 ✅

🏆 Madrid 🇪🇸
🏆 Rome 🇮🇹
🏆 Paris 🇫🇷

The first player to do it since @serenawilliams 👏 @iga_swiatek | #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/wF3BnwzNkI

— Live Tennis (@livetennis) June 8, 2024

Nevertheless, that break proved a false dawn and sprung Swiatek into life; the Pole broke back immediately while winning 20 of the next 24 points to run away with the opening set.

The one-way traffic continued in the second with the world number one racing into a 5-0 lead and making it 11 games on the spin, leaving one away from victory.

Paolini stopped the rot by holding as she desperately tried to extend the biggest match of her career, but Swiatek sealed the deal in the next game as she became the first player born after 1990 to land five major titles.