French Open 2024 Final Highlights: Iga Swiatek breezes past Jasmine Paolini to win third consecutive title

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French Open women’s singles champions in Open Era: Swiatek completes hat-trick with 2024 title

Iga Swiatek won her fourth French Open title and third on the trot with a 6-2, 6-1 victory over Jasmine Paolini in the final of the 2024 edition at Roland Garros, Paris on Saturday.

The runner-up Jasmine Paolini steps up to collect her trophy, followed by now four-time champion Iga Swiatek who celebrates with her trophy in front of the crowd.

Paolini steps up to the mic to address the crowd. “I think to play you (Iga) is the toughest thing to do in this sport. Congratulations to you on the title,” Paolini said.

“These have been the best few days of my life and I have one more day to go tomorrow in the Women’s doubles final and hopefully it ends well,” she added.

The world number one steps up. She congratulates Paolini and her team and wishes her well in future tournaments. 

“I love this place and I wait every year to come back to this court,” Iga said tearfully. 

“I was almost out of the tournament in the second round. I thank you all for supporting me throughout the tournament and making me believe. See you all next year,” she concluded.

Swiatek serving for the Championship. She hits a volley near the net to take a 30-15 lead. Two points away now.

Championship point for Swiatek. And she does it. Paolini cannot keep her serve return inside the court as Swiatek falls to the ground in elation. 

An hour and eight minutes played, Iga Swiatek becomes the youngest player to win three consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Monica Seles between 1990-92. 

She also becomes the second player to claim tournament victory at Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros in a calendar year after Serena Williams (2013)

Paolini serving to avoid a bagel. She forces Swiatek to hit a backhand out of the court but proceeds to hit the ball out herself in the next point to make it 15-15.

30-30 as Paolini’s crosscourt backhand goes out. She holds on to avoid the bagel and hits a lovely forehand to win the game. 

Paolini serving to avoid a bagel. She forces Swiatek to hit a backhand out of the court but proceeds to hit the ball out herself in the next point to make it 15-15.

30-30 as Paolini’s crosscourt backhand goes out. The Italian holds her nerve and hits a lovely forehand to avoid the bagel.

Paolini sends back a second serve to level the scores at 15-15. Another good point for Paolini as she works her way up the court to direct the ball away from Swiatek to make it 30-30. 

Swiatek remains inevitable as she takes the fifth game. 10 games in a row for the Pole and one away from a third straight French Open title.

Everything is going Swiatek’s way at the moment as she smashes a couple of forehands past the Italian to take a 30-15 lead. Another chance to break for Swiatek.

Paolini gets a point back but Swiatek sends the next serve across the court to break again. Two sets away from the title now. 

Swiatek with a strong backhand to take a 30-0 lead. She takes the third game in quick time without dropping a point. She is running away with the match now.

Paolini showing signs of fatigue as she hits a double fault. Swiatek capitalises and takes a 40-15 lead. Two break points for the Pole. 

Paolini with an ace down the middle to come back into the game. Swiatek’s forehand return goes out in the next point and its deuce.

Swiatek gets the break in the end.

A good cross-court backhand from Paolini to take the first point of the second set. Swiatek responds with a forehand down the line to draw level.

Two errors from Paolini gives Swiatek a 40-15 lead. She seals the first game with a curling forehand which forces Paolini to strike the ball into the net.

Iga Swiatek has never lost a French Open match after winning the opening set. She has a 73-1 win-loss record on clay after winning the first set.

Paolini is serving to stay in the first set. Looks like the pressure is getting to the Italian as she goes down 0-30. Three set points for Swiatek now.

A deep return of her serve forces Paolini to hit the ball into the net. Swiatek takes the first set in the French Open 2024 Women’s Singles final.

Swiatek’s powerful backhand forces an error out of Paolini as she takes a 40-0 lead. Paolini does well to direct her forehand away from Swiatek who was attacking the net. 40-15.

Swiatek is near the net again and this time she does well to take the point. Four games on the row for the defending champion.

Another great rally as Swiatek’s backhand goes out to make it 30-30. But Paolini hits a backhand into the net to give Switatek the break point.

The pressure gets to her as she hits a double fault to give Swiatek the advantage.

Swiatek and Paolini battle it out for the first point of the game. A 25-shot rally and Swiatek walked away with the point with a backhand as Paolini ran out of steam.

The Pole seals the game after Paolini’s big forehand goes out.

Swiatek starts strong, trying to make up for her broken serve. She takes a 30-0 lead. A powerful cross-court backhand forces Paolini to make an error.

And Swiatek breaks back in no time.

A couple of unforced errors from Swiatek gives Paolini a 0-30 lead in the game. Two break points for Paolini after a 14-shot rally.

Paolini breaks Swiatek’s serve after another unforced error from the Pole.

Paolini starts strong, taking a 0-40 lead in the game. Swiatek with a brilliant cross-court forehand to come back into the game.

Another brilliant shot from Swiatek to send Paolini the wrong way. She brings it to 40-40. Swiatek with a volley near the net to take advantage. Her backhand clips the net and goes out. Deuce. 

Paolini takes advantage after forcing an error from Swiatek. She holds her nerve to win hold her service and win the game.

Swiatek wins the toss and elects to serve. Swiatek lead 30-15. Paolini sends a powerful backhand to open her account.

A good rally ends with Swiatek smashing the ball into the net. Still, she leads 40-30. Swiatek seals the first game with an ace.

The players are entering a packed Philippe-Chatrier Court. Jasmine Paolini enters the court first followed by Iga Swiatek.

She could become only the second Italian woman in history to win the title after Francesca Schiavone (2010).

If she wins both singles and doubles titles, she could become only the eighth woman to achieve the feat at Roland Garros after Billie Jean King (1972), Margaret Smith (1973), Chris Evert (1974-75), Virginia Ruzici (1978), Martina Navratilova (1982, 1984) Mary Pierce (2000) and Barbora Krejcikova (2021).

She could become the first women’s player to win three consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Justine Henin (2005 – 2007) and only the third player to do it after Monica Seles (1990-92).

She could be the youngest player to win three consecutive titles at Roland Garros since Monica Seles between 1990-92.

She could be the first player to win three consecutive titles at a single Grand Slam event since Serena Williams at US Open between 2012-2014.

She could become only the second player to claim tournament victory at Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros in a calendar year after Serena Williams (2013).

Semifinal: Beat Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 6-1

Quarterfinal: Beat [4] Elena Rybakina (KAZ) 6-2, 4-6, 6-4

Round of 16: Beat Elina Avanesyan 4-6, 6-0, 6-1

Round of 32: Beat Bianca Andreescu (CAN) 6-1, 3-6, 6-0

Round of 64: Beat [Q] Hailey Baptiste (USA) 6-4, 7-6(6)

Round of 128: Beat Daria Saville (AUS) 6-3, 6-4

Semifinal:- Beat [3] Coco Gauff (USA) 6-2, 6-4

Quarterfinal: Beat [5] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) 6-0, 6-2

Round of 16: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0

Round of 32: Beat Marie Bouzkova (CZE) 6-4, 6-2

Round of 64: Beat Naomi Osaka (JPN) 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5

Round of 128: Beat [Q] Leolia Jeanjean (FRA) 6-1, 6-2

Iga Swiatek leads Jasmine Paolini 2-0. They first faced each other in an ITF event in Prague six years ago, which remains their only meeting on clay. The next time they played against each other was during the first round of a title-winning run for Swiatek at the 2022 US Open.

Iga Swiatek is just one win away from clinching three straight French Open titles, something no woman has achieved since Justine Henin did the three-peat from 2005-07.

Standing between Swiatek and her place in history is a 5’4” Italian named Jasmine Paolini. 

It’s a final not many could have predicted since the 28-year-old Paolini had not even made it past the second round of a Major before this year. But the 12th seed has played some inspired tennis this season.

She won the Dubai Masters in February, the biggest title of her career.

In the last two weeks, she has shown that even if she doesn’t have a great serve, she can make up for it with a strong forehand and her speed. Her wins over Bianca Andreescu in third round and Elina Avanesyan in round of 16 were impressive but the way she knocked out fourth seed Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals made her a genuine title contender. Her semifinal victory over Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva further highlighted the fact that she is high on confidence and genuinely believes she has a chance to win the whole thing. 

For Swiatek, it has been another great season on clay. While she did lose to Rybakina in the semifinals of Stuttgart Open, she bounced back to win back-to-back titles in Madrid and Rome, beating World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the final both times.

However, her French Open title defence could have ended in the first week of the tournament itself when she faced a match point against former World No. 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round. But current World No. 1 Swiatek overcame that blip and since then, has cruised through her matches against Marie Bouzkova, Anastasia Potapova, Marketa Vondrousova and Coco Gauff.

Swiatek on clay is a deadly combination and it is going to be an enormous task for Paolini to upset her but Karoline Muchova almost did it during last year’s final when she led Swiatek during the third set.

Paolini is set to make her Top 10 debut in the upcoming WTA Rankings. She has already ended a long wait for Italy by becoming the first woman from her country to reach the final in Paris since her current doubles partner Sara Errani finished runner-up 12 years ago. It remains to be seen if she can join 2010 champion Francesca Schiavone as the only Italian women to have lifted the trophy

French Open 2024 final between Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini is set to begin around 6:30PM IST on Saturday, June 8. You can watch the live telecast of the French Open on the Sony Sports Network and stream the matches live on SonyLiv and JioTV.