‘Queen of Clay’ backed to destroy more records after dominating French Open

Swiatek is undefeated in Paris since 2021, 21 matches ago, and has won 34 of her 36 matches here, a record matched only by Seles and Chris Evert.

Eurosport analyst Boris Becker said: “Iga reminds me a bit of Rafael Nadal and I wouldn’t be surprised if she reaches double figures in the titles in Paris.”

In her runners-up speech, Paolini told the Pole: “To play you here is the toughest challenge in this sport.” The Italian later added: “She already has four. I think, yes, she can win three more.”

The 2022 US Open winner Swiatek, who is now 5-0 in Grand Slam finals, saved a match point against Naomi Osaka earlier in the tournament in its best match – on both the women’s and men’s sides.

Osaka aside, no player took more than six games off Swiatek, who at one point had won 20 consecutive games over three matches. Evert and Martina Navratilova, with nine Roland Garros titles between them, presented the runners-up plate to Paolini and the winners’ trophy to Swiatek.

“It has been a really emotional tournament – I was almost out in the second round,” she said. “I was able to get my game better and better every match. I’m really proud of myself because the expectations and pressure have been pretty high from the outside.

“I’m happy that I just went for it and I was ready to deal with all of this and I could win.”

Alfie Hewett and Gordon Reid won the men’s wheelchair doubles final for a fifth successive year by beating Japanese pairing Takuya Miki and Tokito Oda 6-1 6-4.