In her half-decade competing at the highest level of her sport, Coco Gauff has built an impermeable reputation for her toughness. No matter the significance of the occasion or the state of her strokes, she will fight with everything at her disposal until the very last point. More often than not, she will find a way through.
Across the net from the best player in the world in one of the most important moments of her career, Gauff showed the full breadth of her grit and durability as she somehow plotted a path to victory, holding her own in a gripping match between the two best players in the world to topple Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 1, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 and win her first French Open title.
Two years after also defeating Sabalenka in three sets to win her first major title at the 2023 US Open, Gauff, the world No 2, has joined a distinguished group of players as a multiple grand slam champion. She is the first American player to win the French Open title since Serena Williams in 2015 and the youngest to do so since Williams in 2002.
After Sabalenka spectacularly ended Iga Swiatek’s historic 26-match winning streak in the semi-finals, the top two seeds converged in the final. The rivalry between these two has its own storied history. The pair have already played numerous dramatic three-set matches, including that unforgettable tussle in New York, when Sabalenka lost control of her emotions and Gauff produced a fearless performance to make her pay. The American now leads their head-to-head 6-5.
This time, Sabalenka opened the match in wonderful form and she established a 4-1 lead before falling apart. Throughout the first set, she struggled badly with the wind, her emotions and her rapidly rising unforced error count. With Sabalenka’s groundstrokes in disarray, a tenacious Gauff chased down every ball and gave nothing away. Despite Sabalenka twice serving for the set, they converged in a tie-break, where Gauff forced herself inside the baseline and established a 5-3 lead. With the set hanging by a thread, Sabalenka completely locked in. She struck two supreme backhand winners to level the tie-break at 5-5. She then showed the growing variation in her game by closing out the set with a perfectly measured drop shot followed by a sweet drop volley.
With the first set painstakingly secured, it seemed likely that Sabalenka would relax and play more freely until the end. It seemed likely that she would win. Instead, the emotional energy she used up seemed to leave its mark. While the Belarusian started the second set completely flat, Gauff rose to the occasion. In stark contrast to Sabalenka’s visible anguish and glee after every pont, Gauff conducted herself as she always does. She remained positive, cheering on her successful points while betraying minimal emotion when she faltered. She focused intently on chasing down every ball, extending every point and looking for opportunities to impose herself. She approached every point with unflinching discipline.
For the first set of the match, as she tried to neutralise Sabalenka’s offensive barrage, Gauff had to chase down as many balls as possible and draw errors from her opponent with her defence. Towards the end of the set, though, she was gradually able to impose herself. As the world No 1 completely lost her way in set two, Gauff went on the front foot with her backhand and smothered her opponent’s second serve. Her forehand, once the bane of her existence, held up brilliantly, its heavy topspin kicking up out of Sabalenka’s strike zone. Most importantly, she continued to hold her nerve.
After breezing through the second set, Gauff took a 3-1 lead and held a break point on Sabalenka’s serve. Despite how badly she had struggled for most of the set, Sabalenka lasered a down-the-line backhand winner on break point and levelled the set at 3-3. Even with the best player in the world breathing down her neck until the bitter end, Gauff showed her toughness in the tightest moments as she immediately re-established her break and then held on in a breathless final service game to close out the best win of her career.
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