Coco Gauff celebrates after winning her women’s singles final match against Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open tennis tournament in Paris on Saturday. Thibuad Moritz/AFP via Getty Images hide caption
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Thibuad Moritz/AFP via Getty Images
Coco Gauff, the 21-year-old American tennis star, has defeated Aryna Sabalenka in the French Open women’s singles final to claim the second Grand Slam title of her young career.
Saturday’s final between Sabalenka and Gauff, who are respectively ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the world, was the first Grand Slam women’s final to feature the world’s top two players since 2018. Gauff is the first American champion at the French Open since Serena Williams in 2015.
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The two players battled over three sets. After Sabalenka won the first set 7-6, Gauff stormed back to dominate the second set, 6-2, before outlasting the Belarusian player 6-4 in a gutsy final set. After Sabalenka’s final volley landed just wide of the line, Gauff collapsed to the red clay of Roland-Garros, her hands high in the air.
“I don’t think either of us were playing great,” Gauff said in an interview with TNT after the match. “But I knew as soon as I stepped on to the court when I felt that it was windy that it would be one of those matches. So I was just trying to give myself the best chance and fight every point.”
Gauff had reached the final after defeating fellow American Madison Keys, No. 7, in the quarterfinal, then breezing past the crowd darling Lois Boisson, the French player ranked just No. 361 who had mounted a thrilling Cinderella run at the Open. On the other side of the bracket was the imposing Sabalenka, who ascended to the world’s No. 1 spot last year after winning in Australia and the U.S. Open in New York. Sabalenka had toppled the Polish star Iga Swiatek, winner of the past three consecutive French Opens, in the semifinal.
Gauff burst into the tennis world as a teenager — including a juniors title at Roland-Garros in 2018, her first career junior Grand Slam win.
Americans have won both women’s Grand Slam titles so far this year. Gauff’s victory follows Keys’ title at the Australian Open in January.
The French Open men’s final between No. 1 Jannik Sinner and No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz is set for Sunday.
