Gauff torments Sabalenka to win riveting French final

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.

- JAMIE BRAIDWOOD

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 twotime 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,” Sabalenka later said. “Somehow magically, the ball lands in the court. It felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, ‘let's see if you can handle this’.”