CRYING Iga Swiatek claimed a hat-trick of French Open titles as she became Queen of Clay once again on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
The world No.1 became the first woman since Justin Henin in 2007 to defend the singles championship in Paris following a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory over Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic.
In a fortnight of blue skies and no rain in the French capital, Swiatek stormed through into this final without dropping a set and only contesting one tie-break.
Though the unseeded Muchova deserved enormous credit for taking this into a decider and pushing Swiatek to her limits, the Pole showed that when it comes to the big moments she is a true champion.
Provided she remains healthy and fit – and assuming she retains that hunger and desire to keep travelling, training and competing – there is no reason why she cannot keep winning this clay-court Slam.
And perhaps experience the same level of dominance that Rafa Nadal enjoyed in his favourite Parisian playground.
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Muchova – whose dad is an assistant coach of a Czech’s top-flight football club – may have won their previous encounter in Prague.
And she may have had a winning record against opponent ranked inside the top three.
But in the opening stages, nerves betrayed the unseeded 26-year-old on the biggest occasion of her sporting life.
Muchova had reasonable success at the net, managing to flourish with the drop-shot as Swiatek dislikes moving forwards.
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In the second set, she had three breaks of serve – the one in game nine came from a Swiatek double fault – and managed to take this into a third and final set.
The third set was a topsy-turvy one but Swiatek, who had a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian ribbon on her white baseball cap, managed to seal the victory in game 10 thanks to a Muchova double fault.
When the moment of victory, she went down to her hunches and the tears flowed and then joined her team in the players' box.
For the Pole, this is a third French Open title in four years – a fourth Slam overall when you count the 2022 US Open success – and makes her the joint-most decorated active player after veteran Venus Williams.
After a short break, she will now head to Wimbledon trying to change a dismal record of just one fourth-round appearance at the premier grass-court tournament.
Swiatek shook the trophy so hard in celebration the LID flew off and had to be rescued by French tennis federation boss Gilles Moretton.
Swiatek said: “I know we have won this tournament but it’s not been easy being on Tour for a couple of weeks without a break. I’m happy we can feel satisfied now and can celebrate.
“It’s not about the performance, I love being here, it’s my favourite place on Tour.”
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Teary-eyed Karolina Muchova said: “This is a bit emotional for me. It has been an amazing three weeks in Paris for me and my team.
“This is so close yet so far – it’s what happens when you play one of the best in Iga. My team and I will come back stronger.”
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