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Top seed Iga Swiatek survived a midmatch slump to beat first-time Grand Slam finalist Karolina Muchova on Saturday in a rousing French Open final.
It was clearly a match of three parts. The first part saw Swiatek bursting out the blocks, dropping only two games in the opener. She then surged to a 3-0 lead in the second. Having won nine of the opening 11 games, the finish line appeared in sight as a lopsided final was unfolding on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
To her credit, though, the 43rd-ranked Muchova produced a stirring comeback, winning nine of 11 games of her own. That saw her win the second set 7-5 and go 2-0 up in the second.
However, the 26-year-old couldn't continue her momentum. In fact, both players struggled on serve before Swiatek produced a pivotal hold at 4-4 to serve out a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory. It was the 22-year-old's third Roland Garros title as she achieved a few milestones along the way.
Here's a look a the top five milestones Swiatek achieved by reigning supreme at the 2023 French Open:
#1 Iga Swiatek is the youngest player since 2002 to win four women's singles Grand Slam titles
Iga Swiatek is hands down the best female player at the moment. With her latest win at Roland Garros, the 22-year-old became a four-time Grand Slam champion.
That makes her the youngest female player to win four Grand Slam singles titles since 2002, when a certain Serena Williams won the US Open title that year. The American had previously won titles at the 1999 US Open, 2002 Roland Garros and 2002 Wimbledon.
Meanwhile, Swiatek made her Grand Slam breakthrough at 2020 Roland Garros before triumphing at the claycourt Major again last year and the US Open as well.
#2 4th player in Open Era to win their first four Grand Slam finals
Iga Swiatek joined an exclusive group of players with her third Roland Garros success on Saturday.
With her fourth straight win in a Grand Slam final, the 22-year-old Pole joined Roger Federer, Monica Seles and her contemporary Naomi Osaka as the only players in the Open Era to do so.
Among the quartet, Federer won his first seven finals - an Open Era record - before his perfect Grand Slam final run was ended by Rafael Nadal at 2006 Roland Garros.
Seles, meanwhile, won her first six finals - 1990 French Open, 1991 Australian Open, 1991 French Open, 1991 US Open, 1992 Australian Open and 1992 French Open - before losing to Steffi Graf in the 1992 Wimbledon final.
Osaka won her first four Grand Slam finals at the 2018 US Open, 2019 Australian Open, 2020 US Open and 2021 Australian Open. She hasn't played another Major final since then.
#3 2nd-highest % of Roland Garros main draws won in Open Era
The story of Iga Swiatek at the French Open continues to add a new chapter every year.
Having won two of the previous three titles entering the 2023 edition, Swiatek made it three out of four. Her only losses at Roland Garros have come on her debut in 2019 (fourth round) and 2021 (quarterfinal).
With three wins in five Roland Garros main draws entered, Swiatek - with a 60% - success rate - is only behind Margaret Court (3/4, 75%) among women players in the Open Era.
For comparison, Rafael Nadal won his first four main draw appearances at the claycourt Major (2005-08) before losing in the fourth round in 2009 to Robin Soderling.
#4 1st woman in 16 years to defend their Roland Garros title
With her thrilling win over Karolina Muchova, Swiatek defended her Roland Garros title.
That's relatively rare for a ladies' singles champion at the claycourt Major recently. In fact, before Swiatek, Justine Henin (2005-07) was the last WTA player to win consecutive titles at Roland Garros.
Since Henin in 2007, Ana Ivanovic (2007-08), Dinara Safina (2008-09), Francesca Schiavone (2010-11), Maria Sharapova (2012-14), Serena Williams (2015-16) and Simona Halep (2017-18) have made at least two consecutive finals, but none went back-to-back.
#5 4th-highest ratio of claycourt tournaments won in Open Era
Iga Swiatek is beginning to produce 'King of Clay' Rafael Nadal-type numbers on red dirt.
With her third French Open success, the Pole won her seventh claycourt title in her 16th appearance. Among players with at least five titles on the surface, that's the best success rate (43.8%) in the Open Era, behind only Chris Evert (68.6%), Margaret Court (52.5%) and Steffi Graf (50%).
Having already been assured of the World No. 1 ranking before entering the final, Iga Swiatek will now look to build on that with a strong showing on grass, where she hasn't had much success.
