French Open 2023: World No 1 Iga Swiatek wins third Roland Garros title - 'Young legend’

Poland’s Iga Swiatek became the first woman since 2007 to win back-to-back French Open titles when she won her third championship on Saturday, beating Czech Republic’s Karolina Muchova 6-2 5-7 6-4 in a thrilling final.

The 22-year-old Swiatek is just the third woman in the Open era to win each of her first four Grand Slam finals, the Pole adding to her 2020 and 2022 titles in Paris and last year’s US Open triumph.

Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka are the only other players to accomplish the feat.

Swiatek, the world number 1, is also the youngest woman to claim back-to-back French Open titles since Monica Seles in the early 1990s.

Justine Henin was the last woman to win successive Roland Garros crowns when she captured her third in a row and fourth in total 16 years ago.

Swiatek’s latest coronation caps another dominant two weeks on the clay in Paris, where her record stands at 28 wins and two losses in five visits.

Muchova, at 43 in the world, was the fourth lowest ranked woman to reach the French Open final, her first championship match at a major.

Swiatek, then just 19, was ranked 54 when she lifted her first trophy – three years after Jelena Ostapenko’s shock triumph. Muchova’s...

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