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Swiatek battles past Muchova to claim third French Open crown

Jonathan Davies in French Open 10 Jun 2023
Swiatek landed her third Roland Garros title in four years (Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo)

Iga Swiatek captured her third French Open title after battling past a spirited Karolina Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 in a thrilling final.

The Pole became the first player since Justine Henin in 2007 to successfully defend the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen on Saturday – and sixth overall after Margaret Court, Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Monica Seles – but was made to work hard for it at Roland Garros.

After dominating the opening set, Swiatek surged into a 3-0 lead in the second and appeared on course for a routine victory, but Muchova fought back to take her maiden grand slam final into a decider.

Although the world number one trailed 2-0 and 4-3, she dug deep to become only the third woman to win each of her first four major finals after Seles and Naomi Osaka.

Swiatek had advanced to her third French Open final in four years without dropping a set, and she landed the first blow by breaking in game two of the opening set.

Muchova, who had defeated Maria Sakkari and Aryna Sabalenka en route to her first grand slam final, rescued break point in the sixth, but could not prevent her opponent from drawing first blood.

Swiatek had enjoyed straight-set victories in her three previous major finals, and it seemed that would be the case once more as she broke early again in the second for a 3-0 lead.

However, Muchova came roaring back – breaking her opponent in three of her next four service games, before forcing a third set.

The fourth Czech woman to reach the women’s singles final at Roland Garros during the Open Era – after Lucie Safarova, Marketa Vondrousova and Barbora Krejcikova – the world number 43 also boasted a perfect 5-0 record against top-three opponents.

Looking to become the first woman since Svetlana Kuznetsova at this event 14 years ago to beat the world number one and world number two en route to a grand slam title, Muchova built on her momentum by reeling off eight points without reply to break in the decider.

Swiatek hit back immediately, but the Czech broke once more in game seven for a 4-3 lead as she edged closer to becoming the fourth female major champion from her nation.

But hesitancy crept in as the world number one responded straightaway, and held before Muchova’s most untimely double-fault completed the hat-trick in Paris.