Steely resilience pays off as Gauff crowned queen of clay

It hurts so much, especially after such a tough two weeks when I played such great tennis... It was the worst final I ever played.—ARYNA SABALENKA

- Ashish Magotra

NEW DELHI: After just 19 minutes into the French Open women's final at the Philippe Chatrier court, with the score at 1-4, Coco Gauff was looking like she would be blown off the court by the power of Aryna Sabalenka. For the first time in seven years, the best two women's players in the world were meeting in a Grand Slam final but it was looking like a mismatch.

But it's not about how you start, it's how you finish.

The slow start gave way to an incredible resilience, grit and tennis smarts in a match that wasn't high on quality but brutal from the physical and emotional point of view. It ended with the 21-year-old American winning a topsy-turvy roller-coaster battle 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 in 2 hours and 38 minutes.

The signs were all there in the manner in which Gauff came back in the first set itself. After going down 1-4, she took the next three games and slowly revealed the tenacious style that would win her the second Major title of her career.

After letting Sabalenka's big groundstrokes un-nerve her in the early going, Gauff, with the wind picking up, moved into defensive mode. Where one big shot was winning Sabalenka the point earlier, now even 3-4 big shots weren't enough.