Sweetek’s second Grand Slam win was her sixth consecutive title this year.
Sweetek’s second Grand Slam win was her sixth consecutive title this year.
Inga Swietec won her second French Open title by dominating teenager Coco Gauff in the final on Saturday as the world number one claimed her 35th consecutive win.
The 21-year-old Polish star posted a 6-1, 6-3 win over Court Philippe Chatrier in just 68 minutes, equaling Venus Williams’ record for the longest winning streak by a woman in the 21st century.
Sweetek celebrated this year’s sixth consecutive title at the Players Box with friends and family.
“I said ‘don’t cry’ to Coco and that’s what I’m doing. Congratulations to Coco,” said an emotional Swatek.
“You’re doing an amazing job. At your age, I was on my first year on tour and had no idea what I was doing. You’ll find it, I’m sure of it.”
A frustrated Gough sat in her seat in tears after a nervous performance, due to 23 unforced errors and three double faults.
The 18-year-old American fell short in her bid to become the youngest Grand Slam singles champion since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.
“I want to congratulate Inga, what you’ve done on tour over the past few months is amazing,” said Gauff, as he thanked his team as tears flowed again.
“I hope we can play more finals and maybe I can win one… I want to thank my team, I’m sorry I didn’t get it today.”
Swietec, only the 10th woman in the Open era to win multiple French Opens, lost just one set in the tournament to China’s Zheng Qinwen in the fourth round.
She has now won all three meetings of her career with Gauff, who was playing her first major final.
Gauff will now turn her attention to Sunday’s doubles final, where she will face compatriot Jessica Pegula against home favorites Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic.
Sweetek improved on his remarkable record in the finals, winning his last nine on the WTA Tour.
Sweetek expressed his support for Ukraine during the trophy presentation, despite saying before the final that he was unwilling to speak about off-court issues.
“I want to say to Ukraine, ‘Stay strong.’ The war is still there,” she said to cheers from the stands.
nervous gaffe
Gauff looked nervous in the opening exchanges and a flurry of unforced errors gave Swietec a break in the first game.
The 18th seed found the match 3-0 and a double break in just 16 minutes, as Sweetek’s powerful backhand helped him win a lengthy third game at his fifth break point.
Gough finally got on board with a poor catch, much to the delight of the crowd, but had dropped a set after a few minutes for the first time in the tournament.
Sweetek was not playing his best, but a cross-court backhand winner brought two set points and took a second when Gough fired wide.
Pole gifted his opponent a possible route back into the match, making four unforced errors to throw off his serve in the first game of the second set.
Sweetek regrouped himself, although mistakes from Gauff continued, falling back at 2–2.
He made it to five straight games to go within one of the titles, losing only five points in the process.
Gough digs deeper to force Sweetek to serve for the trophy.
But the top seed did exactly that on her first match point, when Gauff made a long comeback and dropped her on red clay in celebration.