A polished Swiatek

PARIS, June 10

Poland’s Iga Swiatek continued her dominance on Parisian clay with a third French Open crown in the last four years, defeating unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova 6-2 5-7 6-4 in a thrilling final to capture her fourth Grand Slam title today.

Swiatek has now lost only two out of 26 Grand Slam matches since moving to world No. 1 in April last year and the 22-year-old became the youngest woman to bag consecutive trophies at Roland Garros since Monica Seles, who triumphed from 1990-92.

The US Open champion also joined Seles and Naomi Osaka as the only women in the Open Era to emerge victorious in each of their first four Major finals but she was made to work hard despite a fast “First of all congratulations to Karolina,” Swiatek said. “I knew it would be a tough match. I hope you’re going to have many more finals. “Congratulations to your team. I know how much teams are important I wouldn’t be here without my team. To my team, sorry for being such a pain in the… I’ll try to do better.” Reuters

At 36, Djokovic eyes No. 23

Paris: Novak Djokovic pursued Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for quite some time. They were the guys he measured himself against. The players who established the standards he sought to surpass. Sure, when Djokovic looks across the net on Court Philippe Chatrier during the French Open final tomorrow, he will see Casper Ruud trying to prevent him from earning a men’s record 23rd championship at a Grand Slam tournament. Neither Federer (who announced his retirement last year) nor Nadal (who is out since January with a hip injury and recently had arthroscopic surgery) will be at Roland Garros, racquet in hand and ready to present a challenge, of course. Still, it’s important to remember that the milestone the 36-year-old Djokovic is chasing now is in many ways defined by his two great rivals. ap