Swiatek won Paris final against Muchova

In the final, however, the Polish number one in the tennis world had to fight hard against the outsider Karolina Muchova from the Czech Republic. After a sovereign 6:2 in the first, she had to give up the second set 5:7 after a 3:0 lead, but caught herself again in the decisive round and won it 6:4 after a total of 2:46 hours.

For the 22-year-old Swiatek it was the fourth title at Grand Slam level after Paris (2020, 2022, 2023) and the US Open (2022). The 26-year-old Muchova, number 43 in the world, had already celebrated her greatest success by reaching the final. However, Swiatek had a lot more trouble than in her first two final wins at the Stade Roland Garros: Last year it was 6: 1.6: 3 against the American Cori Gauff, in 2020 the Pole won 6: 4.6: 1 against Sofia Kenin the USA. Swiatek once again underlined their current exceptional position: only Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka had previously won their first four Grand Slam finals in the professional history of tennis for women.

“I really feel the love”

“I love being here. This is my favorite place on the tour,” enthused Swiatek in her interview on the pitch. “I wouldn’t be here without my team. Thank you guys – sorry for being such a pain in the ass.” Out of sheer joy, she shook the Coupe Suzanne-Lenglen so hard that the lid of the silver trophy fell off. “So many people have come from Poland – I really feel the love.”

Before that, she had also felt Muchova’s bitter resistance. “I really had problems with your varied game. I hope that we will play many more finals against each other,” she said to her opponent. Before she spoke, she wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s incredible, very emotional. It’s been a wonderful three weeks, it was so close. I hope this is just the beginning.”

Around three hours earlier, after Muchova’s nervous start, it was already 3-0 for Swiatek after just ten minutes. But slowly the outsider got used to the big stage. Muchova gained confidence, came back, tried to play her variable game like she did against Sabalenka. She was able to serve her own serve twice in the first set, but Swiatek initially fended off all attacks from her opponent with stoic composure and closed the first set with ease.

High class and dramatic

In 54 games on clay, Swiatek had only lost once after winning the first half – against Muchova 2019. But it didn’t look like it at first. Again, the clay court dominator quickly won the first three games. But when everything seemed ready for the big victory party, Muchova turned it up again. With a lower error rate than before, she equalized to 3:3.

And suddenly Swiatek lost its sovereignty. The game became high quality and dramatic. When the score was 6:5, Muchova got the set ball at the most spectacular point of the game: Thanks to her great athleticism, she converted a volley and lost the racket from her hand. A backhand from Swiatek then sailed out – set equalization.

The game went back and forth. 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.