Gauff shows her inner steel to blow away the world No 1 on clay

On the eve of the women’s final here, Coco Gauff was asked what she thought of the phrase, written on the inside of Court Philippe-Chatrier, which reads: “Victory belongs to the most tenacious”.

The American’s answer was revealing. “I definitely would agree with that,” she said. “Especially in the later stages, everybody is a great player. It really comes down to who can hold their own in those tough moments.”

The words could easily have been written for Gauff herself.

In a final of high drama when wind made life almost impossible for both players at times, the American won her first French Open title, coming from a set down to beat the world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4 and double her Grand Slam tally.

Even when she let slip a 3-1 lead in the third, Gauff still found the internal belief and fight to bounce back immediately, breaking for 4-3 and then, amid more drama, saving a break point as she held serve for victory, falling to the clay in delight. “Oh my God, oh my God,” she mouthed as she gathered herself before commiserating with Sabalenka.

“I honestly didn’t think I could do it,” she told the crowd, before quoting rap star Tyler, the Creator, who said: “If I ever told you that I had a doubt inside me, I must be lying. I think I was lying to myself because I could do it.”

There were plenty of moments of inspiration, Gauff’s brilliant backhand pass off a Sabalenka smash to force a first-set tiebreak and numerous featherlike drop shots. And though there were many unforced errors due to the wind – including an extraordinary 70 by Sabalenka – they merely added to the drama as the two played out one of the best finals in recent memory.

Gauff is the first American to take the title since Serena Williams won the third and last of her French Open crowns in 2015. Long thought of as a possible successor to both Serena and Venus Williams, the 21-year-old won the US Open in 2023 but has ­battled technical problems in both her serve and forehand that threatened to derail her progress.

But through all her difficulties, Gauff has remained resilient, shrugging off disappointment to claim titles and the No 2 ranking. And the way she held her nerve to serve out for the title said everything.

She remains a long way behind Sabalenka in the rankings, but the validation of a second Grand Slam title has been well-earned.

The pair went into the final having each lost just one set and level at 5-5 in their previous meetings, Sabalenka having won the most recent, in the Madrid Open final last month. Gauff’s game plan was to make Sabalenka play an extra ball every point, but she quickly found herself 4-1, 40-0 down as the Belarusian crunched huge groundstrokes into the corners.

Sabalenka, who won her third Grand Slam title at the US Open last September and who was edged out by Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January, looked ­unaffected by the breeze at that stage in her first French Open final, but Gauff immediately clicked into defence mode, running everything down and asking Sabalenka to hit one more ball each time.

Somehow she broke back for 2-4 and then again for 4-4. Sabalenka broke again to lead 5-4 and had two set points on her own serve, only to be broken as Gauff used the drop shot cleverly.

Again, Sabalenka broke to lead 6-5 but Gauff found a bit of genius with the backhand pass off the Sabalenka smash to force the tiebreak. Gauff led 3-0 and 5-3 in the tiebreak but Sabalenka came up with four outstanding points in a row to claim it.

At that stage, it seemed as if Sabalenka might pull away but Gauff was having none of it. She broke in the first game of the second set and again, to love, to lead 4-1. Suddenly, Sabalenka was spraying the ball everywhere and by the end of the set, won by Gauff with a smash, she had made 51 unforced errors.

A double-fault gave Gauff the break for 2-1 in the third set and though she missed a chance to go up 4-1 and then Sabalenka broke back for 3-3, she remained strong. Both players held serve to leave Gauff serving for the match. Fittingly, she had to fight again, saving a break point and then, as Sabalenka’s backhand flew wide, she clinched victory.

Gauff will now go to Wimbledon high on confidence, while Sabalenka will have to regroup after a second successive Grand Slam final defeat, a loss that left her understandably emotional. “This one hurts so much,” she said. “But I will come back stronger.”

Thibaud Moritz/ Julien de Rosa/AFP via Getty