French Open: Coco Gauff fights back to stun Sabalenka, wins first title at Roland Garros

• PARIS — Coco Gauff of the United States won the French Open Women's singles title, beating World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final in Paris on Saturday. The 21-year-old recovered from losing a dramatic 78-minute first set on a tiebreak to stun the World No.1 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 in a gripping three-set women’s final on Court Philippe-Chatrier that lasted two hours and 38 minutes, adding a first Roland-Garros title to her US Open success from 2023.
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• The world No.2 becomes the first American to win the Roland Garros singles title since Serena Williams in 2015, and the youngest American since Serena Williams in 2002.

Also read: French Open: Coco Gauff outlasts Keys in three-set battle to reach semis

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• Sabalenka started the match on a rousing note with a double break for a 4-1 lead in the first set. But Gauff came back with Sabalenka leading 4-1, 40-0 to claw her way back into this first set to level at 4-4. Sabalenka, the world No.1, threw in two double faults from 40-0 in that sixth game and lost her radar after that as errors started creeping into her game.
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• Despite looking frustrated by the minute, Sabalenka broke again to go up 5-4 and then had two set points during a 13-minute service game, but still couldn't finish off the set. Gauff hangs tough and somehow breaks again by playing the slightly safer tennis to make it 5-5. They hold serve and take the set into a tie-breaker
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• However, Sabalenka does not lose her nerve and shows her mental strength to survive a tense tiebreak 7-5.
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• Gauff led 4-1 and 5-3 in the shootout before Sabalenka kicked into gear, producing two superb points from 5-5 to finally finish off the opener with a short volley on her third set point.
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• But Gauff came back strongly to win the second set, showing her mental strength as she quickly moved on from the disappointment of blowing a 5-3 lead in the breaker to dominate the early stages of the second set.
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• The American broke Sabalenka's serve in the first game and built on that to engineer a 4-1 double break lead. She missed a game-point chance to hold for 5-1 and dropped serve again, but in the end claimed the second set 6-2, sweeping through the remainder of the set to win it in 32 minutes and level the match.
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• The decider was well fought too, as Gauff broke in the third game for a 2-1 lead, the game ending with a perfect Sabalenka tweener followed by a winning forehand volley from Gauff. But Sabalenka was not done yet, she maintained calm and regained her rhythm, fighting back from 1-3 down to scramble back to 3-3. But Gauff could not be denied this time, and she won the set 6-4 to claim her first French Open title, dropping to the court in celebration and shedding tears of joy.