Iga Swiatek won the final of the French Open against Karolina Muchova 6: 5, 5: 7, 6: 4 on Saturday (June 10th, 2023) and thus defended the title in Roland Garros. In the meantime, however, Swiatek had to worry about her third success in Paris. She had already triumphed in 2020 and 2022.
At the moment of decision, Iga Swiatek covered her face with her hands, then she knelt on the red ashes of Paris. After 2:46 hours, Swiatek used her first match point, a double fault was fatal to the surprise finalist Muchova.
Swiatek was in a Grand Slam final for the fourth time and she has never lost. The series lasted. Last year she had won the US Open, now she triumphed for the third time after 2020 and 2022 in Roland Garros. She also underpinned her dominance at the same time: only Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka had previously won their first four Grand Slam finals for women in the professional history of tennis.
In the final, Swiatek lost a set for the first time in the entire tournament, but fought off her strong opponent’s comeback attempt with great difficulty. Swiatek was already considered a clay court specialist, it is not unlikely that she will shape an era in Paris.
“I really had problems with your varied game. I hope that we will play many more finals against each other”, Swiatek said to her opponent after the match and also addressed her fans in the stands. “So many people came from Poland – I really feel the love.”
Swiatek dominates and still has to tremble
The roles had been clearly assigned before the start of the final. After all, Swiatek, who has been number one in the world for more than a year, played against the Czech Muchova, 43rd in the world rankings. Even getting into the final was a surprise. And yet there was this stat: in 54 games on clay, Swiatek had only lost once after winning the first set – against Muchova 2019.
But it didn’t look like that at first. Swiatek acted powerfully at the beginning and clawed the first break straight away – Muchova, on the other hand, seemed nervous and agitated, so it was 3-0 for the favorite after less than ten minutes.
“I have a lot of respect for her, she is a player who can do everything”, Swiatek warned before the game about her opponent. Muchova then indicated why. She shook off her tension and sniffed the rebreak several times. Swiatek, however, kept his cool, fended off breakballs and showed his fist for the first time.
Muchova turns up the heat, Swiatek loses the thread – and still celebrates
Muchova, who wrote an impressive comeback story in the days of Paris after numerous injuries and a serious career setback last year, then played on an equal footing. Swiatek, clearly superior to Coco Gauff (USA) in last year’s final, didn’t let the set win go away.
It was a wonderful three weeks, it was so close. I hope this is just the beginning.
Swiatek also started dominantly in the second set, leading 3-0 at times – and then losing game after game, in the end even the set. Muchova prevailed 7:5. She’s trying to “just keep cool”, Swiatek said before the start. From then on, however, she was no longer able to do so.
Swiatek also had big problems at the beginning of the third set, but eventually recovered. The game went back and forth now. Whenever a player finally seemed on the way to victory, her opponent came back. Despite breakballs, Swiatek made it 5: 4 – and was able to celebrate a little later when Muchova made a double fault.