For the second time in her career, Coco Gauff of Atlanta, Georgia is a grand slam singles champion in women’s tennis. Just like the 2023 United States Open almost two years ago, Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the final. This time on the Paris clay, Gauff came out on top by a score of 6-7, 6-2, 6-4.
What we saw from Gauff on Saturday from Roland Garros was an element of resiliency to her game. She initially lost the first set in a tiebreak by a score of 7-5. Many times when a player loses the first set very closely, their game falls apart in the second set. That is what we saw to Janik Sinner of Italy in the 2025 Italian Open men’s final against Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, as Alcaraz came out on top 7-6, 6-1.
However, Gauff just seemed hungrier as the match progressed, and was clearly the better player over the last two sets. In a match that lasted two hours and 38 minutes, the key statistic was unforced errors and it was not even remotely close. Sabalenka had 70 unforced errors and Gauff only had 30. Sabalenka’s 70 unforced errors were the most in any match by any women’s player at the French Open this year according to Amy Lofthouse of the BBC. Sabalenka, who was tearful after her defeat, called her performance “the worst final I have ever played,” and statistically what Sabalenka stated was accurate.
This was the second straight grand slam won by an American woman. At the Australian Open in January, Madison Keys won her first grand slam title. Just like the French Open, Sabalenka was the finalist as Keys won 6-3, 2-6, 7-5.
