The Women’s French Open final is all set. Up one end, we have the overwhelming favourite from the start, world number 1, Iga Swiatek. On the other side of the net, is Italian surprise packet, Jasmine Paolini. While she has had a wonderful season, reaching the final having never made it past the 4th round.
So how did the two of them find themselves here? Let’s have a look at the path to the final:
Iga Swiatek:
Round 1: Leolia Jeanjean
The 148th ranked French qualifier didn’t really ask any questions of Iga, as the world number 1 cruised to a 6-1 6-2 victory. A phenomenal 26 winners to 2 pretty much tells the story. Essentially, a standard 1 hour first round win for Swiatek.
Round 2: Naomi Osaka
In a match that could easily be argued for as the match of the tournament, former world number 1, Naomi Osaka pushed Iga to the brink, but couldn’t quite get over the line. It was Osaka who took the aggression right up to Swiatek, winning far more of the 1-4 rallies. However, when the Pole was able to extend the rallies, the odds started to swing in her favour. Osaka actually won more points, and led 4-1 in the final set. But Swiatek dug deep, and after 3 hours, and saving a match point, she was through to the third round with a 7-6 1-6 7-5 victory.
Round 3: Marie Bouzkova
After an almighty scare in the previous round, it was business as usual against Czech player, Marie Bouzkova. Despite a pretty solid performance from Marie, only committing 12 unforced errors, she just wasn’t able to make any inroads on the Swiatek serve, and it was smooth sailing into the second week, 6-4 6-2.
Round 4: Anastasia Potopova
In what can only be described as an on-court massacre, the world number 41 could not manage a single game, and in fact, won only 10 points across the 12 games. Swiatek barely raised a sweat in the 40 minutes it took her to blast her way into the quarter-finals.
Quarter-finals: Marketa Vondrousova
The world number 5 was expected to put up a bit more of a fight than Potopova, and while that is technically true, as she won 2 games, realistically, it was another masterclass from the world number 1. Vondrousova would only manage a single break point opportunity, but couldn’t convert. On the other hand Swiatek was able to break serve 5 times, and never looked challenged. A 6-0 6-2 victory meant she had only dropped 8 games across her last 6 sets.
Semi-Finals: Coco Gauff
A mouth-watering match-up between the world number 1 and number 3, had everyone excited about what might take place. But a tantalizing match on paper, doesn’t always eventuate in reality, and again, it was Swiatek who asserted her dominance as the queen of clay, winning her 20th match in a row in Paris, 6-2 6-4. While it was far from a spectacular performance, the unforced error count pretty much sums up the match. Only 14 off the racket of Swiatek, but 39 for the American. No-one is beating the Polish superstar making that many errors, and so it came to be, that Iga Swiatek finds herself in the final against Italian Jasmine Paolini.
Jasmine Paolini
Round 1: Daria Saville
While the scoreline of 6-3 6-4 would suggest a fairly straightforward round 1 encounter, Saville was far from disgraced, and Paolini had was made to work hard over 90 minutes to get through. She was broken 5 times, and made more unforced errors, but ultimately found a way, by having just a bit too much firepower for the Aussie.
Round 2: Hayley Baptiste
The American took it right up to Jasmine in round two, and the 6-4 7-6 result could’ve been quite different. Baptiste hit more winners, and was able to push the Italian around at certain stages. In the end, the winners count was offset by a higher unforced error count, resulting in just a few points here and there being the difference in the end.
Round 3: Bianca Andreescu
Andreescu was coming off a strong showing against Anna Kalinskaya, and was showing some of her old form, which saw her reach number 4 in the world. But it was the Italian who was the dominant player in the opening set, playing 43 points without a single unforced error. However, set 2 was flipped on it’s head, with Paolini dropping her level slightly, and Bianca able to take advantage. But it didn’t last long, as Paolini put the foot down in the decider, only dropping 4 games on serve, running away with it 6-1 3-6 6-0
Round 4: Elina Avanesyan
Another topsy-turvy clash, with Avanesyan taking the first set 6-4, creating plenty of opportunities on the Paolini serve. But from the end of the first set, it was all the world number 15, as she raced through the next two sets 6-0 6-1. Despite an 81% first serve percentage for her opponent, Paolini was able to control the final two sets, as she moved into the quarter-finals of a major for the first time.
Quarter-Finals: Elena Rybakina
Going into the match as an underdog for the first time in the tournament, Paolini wasn’t fazed at all, taking it right up to Rybakina from the outset. Despite only serving at roughly 50%, the Italian lost only 1 point on serve in the first set, taking it 6-2. Things turned around in the second set, as Rybakina created 7 break chances, converting 3 of them, to force a decider with a 6-4 scoreline. But in a very tight third set, Paolini just got the better of Rybakina, despite the Kazakhstan player hitting 17 winners to 8. Jasmine was a bit tighter across the board, committing less errors, and hanging on for the biggest win of her career.
Semi-Finals: Mirra Andreeva
Seventeen year old, unseeded Mirra Andreeva, had also come off her biggest career win, taking out Aryna Sabalenka. Unfortunately for the teen, defeating Paolini was a bridge too far. Jasmine put on a clinical serving display, and despite both players actually having 6 break points, Andreeva couldn’t convert any of them. Just 10 unforced errors to 29, meant the Italian cruised through to the final with a 6-3 6-1 win, in just 73 minutes.
So who wins the trophy on Saturday? It’s very hard to go past the 3 time winner, and world number 1, Iga Swiatek. Apart from the Osaka match, she’s been dominant across the fortnight, and while Paolini is having the fortnight of her life, and indeed, the season of her life, it’s hard to see her really troubling one of the best clay court players of this century.
