The Polish star won the French Open for the second time on Saturday by defeating Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in Paris, extending her unbeaten streak to 35 games. This equates to Venus Williams’ 21st century record of consecutive victories set in 2000 and consolidates Swiatek’s status as the best female tennis player of the moment.
“Two years ago, winning that title was an amazing thing, I would never have expected that,” the 21-year-old said during her interview on the court after the game.
“But this time I feel like I’ve worked hard and I’ve done everything to get here, even though it was pretty hard and the pressure was great.”
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Swiatek dropped just one set on the way to the final and Gauff had no problems in the first Grand Slam final of the American.
After beating Gauff twice at the start of the first set, Swiatek took a 4-0 lead before closing out the set in just 32 minutes.
The world number one was under pressure for the first time in the game at the start of the second set when Gauff converted his first break point and held his serve to advance 2-0.
However, it was only a glimmer of hope for the 18-year-old, as Swiatek quickly closed the door by winning the next five games in a row.
Gauff was able to hold on, but so was Swiatek, grabbing the set, the match and another title from the French Open.
She has now won six consecutive tournaments in a series of victories dating back to February 16, when she lost to Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai.
“I felt the pressure, I felt a baggage on my shoulders, I was no longer the underdog,” she told NBC about entering the tournament as the best player with a streak of wins.
“I’m even more proud of that, that I could do it and do it a second time.”
As for Gauff, he fought for consistency against Swiatek, recording 23 unforced errors throughout the match, 14 of which came in the first set.
She was visibly excited at the end of the match, but over time she will be able to reflect on a successful tournament, during which she did not lose a single set until the final.
And starting Monday, Gauff will rise to the top of his career, 13th in the world rankings.
“I know I’ll have that chance again, and I hope to be able to do it next time,” he told NBC.
“Today, I did my best to win. Obviously it would change the outcome, but the decisions I made I thought were the right decisions right now and I really can’t change that.”
The focus of the women’s tour is now on the grass swing before Wimbledon, which begins on June 27th.
Swiatek, who plays his best clay court tennis, has never advanced more than the fourth round of Wimbledon in his two appearances there, but now he looks set to improve on that record in the coming weeks.