The French Open
Swiatek struggles to third French Open trophy
Iga Swiatek held off a storming fightback from Karolina Muchova on Saturday to win her third French Open title in the past four editions 6-2, 5-7, 6-4.,
Swiatek worked to find a path to victory after leading a set and 3-0 but losing her way in a mid-match dip in form.
She lost her first set of the tournament as Muchova levelled the final at a set each on her third opportunity.
Swiatek twice came from a break down in the third set, winning after two an three-quarter hours as Muchova double-faulted on her opponent’s first match point.
A tearful Swiatek knelt on the clay as she claimed her fourth Grand Slam singles title (also US Open last season) from as many career finals.
Her celebration on the podium went slightly off script as she shook the top off of the Suzanne Lenglen trophy as she raised it for a victory photo.
“Congrats to Karolina, I knew we would have a tough final,’ the winner said. “I hop we will have many more.
“I love being here, this is my favourite tournament on the Tour.”
The Polish top seed and defending champion will hang onto the WTA No. 1 ranking as a result of her victory.
She is the first women to successfully defend the Paris title since Justine Henin in 2007.
Swiatek managed only 19 winners and had 27 unforced errors.
She stands 61-13 in Grand Slam marches and at 22 is the youngest to play back-to-back Roland Garros finals since Ana Ivanovic in 2017-2018.
The Paris triumph marked her 14 career trophy from 17 finals played.
Muchova got emotional during the post-match ceremony with former great Chris Evert the trophy presenter.
Photo Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
.”it’s emotional, this is incredible,” Muchova said. “Thank you every one.
“It’s been an amazing three weeks here for me and m team.
“This mach was so close and so far, but that’s what happens when you play one of the best.”
No. 43 Muchova came close to duplicating her semi-final shock of world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka as she finally ceded to Swiatek; she will move up to 16th in the world according to WTA calculations.
Swiatek is the youngest since Monica Seles (1990, 1991, 2992) to win consecutive titles here and joins Seles and Naomi Osaka as the only women in the post-1968 Open Era to win each of their first four Grand Slam finals.
Swiatek was relatively unchallenged as she won the opening set in 45 minutes.
But the second set prove much more problematic, with Muchova – already down a break – breaking for 3-2 with a topspin forehand winner down the line; she squared the set a game later, 3-all.
Muchova earned her first break of the match for a 4-3 lead, but fired wide on three returns a game later as her opponent charged back for 5-5.
The challenger forced a deciding final set as she held after the pair exchanged three consecutive service breaks with Muchova coming good on her third set point.
Swiatek began a fightback deciding set in the worst way, double-faulting to drop serve in the opening game.
The seed managed break backs in the fourth and eighth games to complete her victory surge.
Main photo:- Roland Garros Paris French Open 2023 OOPS! Iga Swiatek (POL) drops the lid of the Suzanne Lenglen trophy after winning Women’s singles by Roger Parker International Sports Fotos Ltd
Alexander Zverev on Thursday made a long-sought after return to the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, booking his first final four at the event since 2019, defeating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-4.
The 2027 year-end No. 1 last got this far as the Covid pandemic began to surface in China in 2019. The event was not played 2020-2022, with the German making modest progress here over the past three editions since resumption.
After winning his 62nd match of the season, the 29-year-old was pleased with his performance.
“I think it was a huge step up. From just being on the court I felt both of us were playing really well.
“I was, a lot of the time, outhitting Alex, which is difficult to do from the baseline because he is so fast and he loves this kind of court speed here.
“I felt good and I’m happy with the step up from the past couple of matches.”
Zverev advanced in 78 minutes, sending over 10 aces as he defeated the Australian for the ninth time in their 13 matches.
Added the reigning Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows Grand Slam champion: “I’ve been handling pressure quite okay this year. In a way you play a bit more relaxed.
“Once Jannik (SInner) unfortunately announced he won’t play for the rest of the year, I’m 4,000 points ahead of everyone else, so I trust myself enough that I’m going to win [enough matches].
Zverev will play for the final to wrap up the Asian swing as he takes on Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who advanced when Arthur Gea quit their quarter-final with injury.
Alexander Zverev will claim world year-end No. 1 honours for the first time on the back of two Grand Slam titles and a final this season.,
The ATP confirmed the changing of the guard as current No. 1 Jannik Sinner ended his season early last week due to a knee injury which has kept him off court since winning Wimbledon three months ago.
Zverev won Roland Garros and US Open trophies and lost to Sinner in the All England Club final.
His reign at the top will begin after the ATP Final in Turin with the ranking period starting on November 23.
Zverev will be 29 years, 217 days old on the date, three days older than Andre Agassi in 1999 (29 years, 214 days).
Main photo:- Alexander Zverev by ISF Ltd
Zheng Qinwen continued an injury comeback season on Sunday, defeating Roland Garros winner Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-4 to win the China Open.
Victory at the 1000-level event was the first trophy for the 54th-raked Chinese player who once reached fourth in the world before elbow surgery.
Zheng saved three set points in the opening set and claimed victory by winning the last 11 points of the set, breaking late in the second to conclude her success over her teenaged opponent.
The winner now owns six career trophies after winning her first 1000; she last claimed a title in Tokyo two years ago.
In an odd twist, the new winner was cajoled into singing a few bars of karaoke during the trophy ceremony.
She will now move back into the ranking top 25 while Andreeva advances to third in the world behind Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka after defeating her third top 10 opponent this season.
“The feeling was incredible, two weeks here in Beijing, in front of my home crowd is one of my dreams, especially playing against Mirra, such a great player,” the winner said.
“I’ve been through a very, very tough year.”
Andreeva broke new ground in her own career by reaching the final, becoming the third-youngest this century to reach the top 3 behind Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters.
“She’s a great server. I also think today I missed a lot of returns trying to go for it, trying to be more aggressive,” Andreeva said,
“I wanted to go for it but couldn’t really find I guess the margin, couldn’t really find the rhythm, as well. I will probably need to look at this match and just see why, try to improve and learn from that.
“Overall of course it was a good tournament,” she added. “A lot of positives to take from these two weeks. Of course, I felt like today just wasn’t meant to be.
“I think I will be able to look to this match maybe from a different perspective and see maybe some good things.”
Main photo:- Zheng Quinwen by ISF Ltd
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