When Coco Gauff played her first French Open final at the age of 18, she walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier having already written off her chances. Three years later, as she returned to the Roland-Garros final, Gauff similarly believed that there would only be one outcome when she faced Aryna Sabalenka.
Only this time, in an epic, turbulent three-set comeback, there was no giving up, no lost causes, as Gauff dismantled the World No. 1 and mastered the difficult, gusty conditions to become a two-time grand slam champion at the age of 21.
With equal amounts of resilience and composure, Gauff overturned an imperious start from Sabalenka and executed another perfect game plan, with this 6-7 6-2 6-4 bearing remarkable significance to her victory over the same opponent in the 2023 US Open final. After absorbing Sabalenka’s heavy blows, Gauff counter-punched her way out of trouble, scrambling her opponent’s powerful attacking game with incredible athleticism and sheer determination.
Sabalenka malfunctioned, an ominous start and first-set lead evaporating as the errors mounted. She finished with 70, over double the amount of Gauff. On a cold, blustery day where the Belarusian could not hit through the court with her usual zip, Gauff forced more mistakes by extending points beyond their limits, giving Sabalenka ball after ball to deal with.
Sabalenka could not handle it. She has now lost back-to-back grand slam finals after her defeat to Madison Keys in Melbourne and was left in tears as she apologised for playing a “terrible” final.
“Honestly, sometimes it felt like she was hitting the ball from the frame,” a disgruntled Sabalenka later said. “Somehow magically, the ball lands in the court. It felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was laughing, like, ‘let's see if you can handle this’.”
It capped an extraordinary, ungracious press conference from Sabalenka, who also said that Iga Swiatek would have beaten Gauff had the four-time champion won their semi-final.
But the conditions were the same for both players, and Gauff dragged Sabalenka into another nightmare. “It was not a day for great tennis,” Gauff said. “I don’t know too many people that could play great tennis today, But it's part of the sport and part of playing outside.”
It was unclear what sort of match Sabalenka was expecting. In their 10 previous meetings, split evenly at five wins each, Sabalenka and Gauff had contested a series of rollercoaster, seesaw battles where each would attempt to shield their weakness while playing to their strengths. Their styles make for a classic match-up of powerful attack against counter-punching defence, which Gauff had used to overturn Sabalenka in her maiden grand slam triumph in the 2023 US Open final.
The opening set brought both sides of this sharp contrast. Sabalenka jumped on tentative serving from Gauff to establish an early double-break, hitting a scorching series of deep returns and strikes that either thundered past the American or rushed the timing of her occasionally vulnerable forehand.
However, down 1-4, Gauff used the momentum of a sloppy service game from Sabalenka to get back into the set. The American used her running power to drag Sabalenka into the extended rallies and force several baffling, bewildering errors from the world No. 1.
“With the wind, I felt it was also more important to try to get as many balls in the court as possible,” Gauff explained. They had practiced with the roof closed on Court Philippe-Chatrier and Gauff felt it was going to be a tough day when she walked out and felt the wind. “I knew it was just going to be about willpower and mental,” she said.
It made for a compelling, wildly unpredictable end to the marathon first set, where Sabalenka served for the set twice but Gauff broke back both times. The 21-year-old prevailed in an epic 12-minute game when Sabalenka served for it at 5-4, with the Belarusian making a double fault on set point and then putting a simple volley into the net after scrambling defence from Gauff.
Gauff saved her best moment to force the tiebreak, after Sabalenka saved for the set again at 6-5. Running to her backhand to anticipate a Sabalenka smash, Gauff redirected a stunning defensive winner down the line. She roared into the decider, jumping into a confident 4-1 lead.
However, after 77 minutes, the set finished where it started, with Sabalenka thundering the returns at the Gauff second serve. Sabalenka remained composed to win an extended rally at 5-5, flashing the forehand crosscourt, then, on her second set point, obliterated a second serve from Gauff that creeped over the net at 79mph. Sabalenka closed the net to put away the drop-volley and moved one set away.
But the seeds of doubt Gauff had managed to plant towards the end of the first set finally bore fruit in the second and third, when the American closed in on the finish line behind her steadier serve, touch at the net, and tenacity to attack Sabalenka’s faltering serve, which coughed up many double faults at crucial moments.
Barely half an hour later, Gauff was level again. As Sabalenka’s level and energy plummeted, barely getting a return back in play as Gauff dominated on the serve, the American flipped the script. She broke Sabalenka in the opening game, setting the tone for a one-sided set where she disrupted Sabalenka with tactical returns and composed shot-making.
Gauff was reading Sabalenka’s every move and the World No. 1 could not reverse the direction of the final. “I think I was overemotional,” Sabalenka said. “I didn't really handle myself quite well mentally. I think she won the match not because she played incredible, just because I made all of those mistakes.”
With Gauff serving for the title at 5-4 in the third, Sabalenka went for one last swing: on match point, Sabalenka went for a Hail Mary of a forehand return that caught the back of the line. A few moments later, Gauff faced a break point and Sabalenka went for the same return, only this time dragged it wide by a foot.
On the second match point, Sabalenka stopped as Gauff looked to have gone long, only for it to drop in at the final moment. Sabalenka reacted in just enough time to return the ball, but Gauff put her under pressure. Sabalenka missed on the final backhand as Gauff kissed the white paint on the baseline. “It wasn’t pretty,” said Gauff, but the taste of the French Open and her second grand slam title after conquering the clay was sweet all the same.
Source: The Independent.
