For a few minutes, anyway, it seemed as if Iga Swiatek was a bit off in the Roland-Garros final against Jasmine Paolini.
Swiatek kept making mistakes, got broken in the third game and trailed at Court Philippe Chatrier.
Might a true surprise be in the offing? Could Paolini not only make a match of this, but actually win it? No. Not even close. Not with the way Swiatek can dominate opponents, especially on red clay.
READ MORE: Blues blow as potential Suaalii replacement hobbles off
READ MORE: ‘Seriously?’: Greats fire up over ’embarrassing’ double-sin bin
READ MORE: Brilliant Brumbies lock in semi-final at Eden Park
The top-seeded Pole quickly recalibrated her wayward strokes and simply overwhelmed Paolini, grabbing 10 games in a row en route to a 6-2, 6-1 victory that gave her a third consecutive championship at Roland-Garros and fourth in five years.
Iga Swiatek won her third straight Roland-Garros title against Jasmine Paolini. DeFodi Images via Getty Images
The 23-year-old had to save a match point in a second-round victory against Naomi Osaka last week, but in the five matches after that three-set escape, Swiatek dropped a total of only 17 games.
“This tournament has been pretty surreal with its beginning and with second round, and then I was able to get my game better and better every match,” Swiatek said.
“I’m really proud of myself, because the expectations obviously have been pretty high from the outside. Pressure, as well.”
Swiatek is now 35-2 overall at the French Open. She’s on a streak of 21 straight victories.
“I’m happy that I just went for it and I was ready to deal with all of this — and I could win.”
She is the first woman to win three consecutive French Open crowns since Justine Henin between 2005 and 2007.
Watch Roland-Garros 2024 live and exclusively free on Nine and 9Now. Plus four courts in 4K UHD on Stan Sport, the home of grand slam tennis.
Swiatek poses among the ball kids from the final. Getty
The 12th-seeded Paolini, a 28-year-old from Italy appearing in her first Slam final, called facing Swiatek at Roland Garros “the toughest challenge in this sport”.
Swiatek also won the French Open in 2020 and the US Open in 2022. She is now 5-0 in grand slam finals.
She added this triumph to those on clay at Madrid and Rome last month, becoming the first woman to win all three events since Serena Williams did it in 2013.
“I never played a player that has this intensity before in my life,” Paolini said. “For me, right now, I think it was the most challenging match I played in my entire career.”
Swiatek also claimed the Madrid and Italian Open titles on clay. Getty
During the postmatch ceremony, Swiatek was flanked by a pair of women who each won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova. Evert said before this French Open that she thinks Swiatek could eventually surpass her women’s record of seven championships in Paris.
Paolini is enjoying the best year of her career. She had never made it further than the second round in a grand slam until she reached the fourth round at the Australian Open in January. She will play the doubles final on Sunday night (AEST) with partner Sara Errani.
When the rankings are recalculated on Monday, Paolini will climb to a career-high No.7 in the singles rankings.
Paolini briefly led early in the first set, before Swiatek won 10-straight games. Getty
Before the final began, a loud chant of “Let’s go, Jasmine! Let’s go!” arose from Paolini’s supporters in the stands, each wearing a T-shirt in one of the colors of the Italian flag: green, white or red.
After Swiatek got the match’s first point, a fan yelled in French, “Jasmine, it’s not over!”
But Swiatek briefly went through a shaky stretch, failing to convert a break point in the second game, and was then broken herself to trail 2-1 after 13 minutes when she flubbed a forehand.
It was Swiatek’s seventh unforced error of the afternoon; Paolini had made only one. The rest of the way, those numbers: six unforced errors by Swiatek, 17 by Paolini.
Jasmine Paolini is in the middle of her best ever calendar year. DeFodi Images via Getty Images
Swiatek, who heard plenty of “Iga!” chants, immediately reset herself and began playing the sort of tennis that put her at No.1 for nearly every week since April 2022. The instincts and footwork to get to almost any shot. The intimidating, heavy-spin forehands. The prematch strategy and midmatch adjustments.
And once Swiatek got going, there was nothing Paolini could do to slow her down.
“I got broken at the beginning, so it wasn’t maybe perfect,” Swiatek said, “but I think the level was pretty high”.
She broke to love for 2-all, capping the game with a return winner off a serve at 140kph. The following game began with a 25-stroke exchange that Swiatek ended with a backhand winner that Paolini did not even try to chase. Now Swiatek led 3-2 and, in a blink, she owned that set and a 5-0 lead in the second.
This is Swiatek’s fourth Roland-Garros in five years. Anadolu via Getty Images
“You have to push, push, push every ball,” Paolini said, explaining that Swiatek hits shots much sooner and closer to the baseline, while swinging her racket harder, than most other foes. “If not, you have no chance.”.
After just 1 hour, 8 minutes of play, Swiatek was celebrating by dropping to her knees behind the baseline.
Soon, she was sitting on her sideline bench and using her phone to snap a selfie while holding up four fingers to represent her haul of French Open trophies. No one would be shocked if that number keeps rising.
The Men’s final between Alex Zverev and Carlos Alcaraz begins at 10.30pm (AEST) Sunday.