Paris, June 7 (IANS) Coco Gauff of the United States won the French Open Women’s singles title, beating World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final in Paris on Saturday. The 21-year-old recovered from losing a dramatic 78-minute first set on a tiebreak to stun the World No.1 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 in a gripping three-set women’s final on Court Philippe-Chatrier that lasted two hours and 38 minutes, adding a first Roland-Garros title to her US Open success from 2023.

The world No.2 becomes the first American to win the Roland Garros singles title since Serena Williams in 2015, and the youngest American since Serena Williams in 2002.

Sabalenka started the match on a rousing note with a double break for a 4-1 lead in the first set. But Gauff came back with Sabalenka leading 4-1, 40-0 to claw her way back into this first set to level at 4-4. Sabalenka, the world No.1, threw in two double faults from 40-0 in that sixth game and lost her radar after that as errors started creeping into her game.

Despite looking frustrated by the minute, Sabalenka broke again to go up 5-4 and then had two set points during a 13-minute service game, but still couldn’t finish off the set. Gauff hangs tough and somehow breaks again by playing the slightly safer tennis to make it 5-5. They hold serve and take the set into a tie-breaker

However, Sabalenka does not lose her nerve and shows her mental strength to survive a tense tiebreak 7-5.

Gauff led 4-1 and 5-3 in the shootout before Sabalenka kicked into gear, producing two superb points from 5-5 to finally finish off the opener with a short volley on her third set point.

But Gauff came back strongly to win the second set, showing her mental strength as she quickly moved on from the disappointment of blowing a 5-3 lead in the breaker to dominate the early stages of the second set.

The American broke Sabalenka’s serve in the first game and built on that to engineer a 4-1 double break lead. She missed a game-point chance to hold for 5-1 and dropped serve again, but in the end claimed the second set 6-2, sweeping through the remainder of the set to win it in 32 minutes and level the match.

The decider was well fought too, as Gauff broke in the third game for a 2-1 lead, the game ending with a perfect Sabalenka tweener followed by a winning forehand volley from Gauff. But Sabalenka was not done yet, she maintained calm and regained her rhythm, fighting back from 1-3 down to scramble back to 3-3. But Gauff could not be denied this time, and she won the set 6-4 to claim her first French Open title, dropping to the court in celebration and shedding tears of joy.

–IANS

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