Former British No. 1 Tim Henman said Iga Swiatek was “absolutely brilliant” throughout the entire French Open and added the Pole was a “really worthy champion.” Swiatek, who replaced Ashleigh Barty at the spot after Miami, saw off Cori Gauff in the French Open final 6-1 6-3 to win her second Grand Slam title.
Swiatek, 21, has won her last 35 matches as she hasn’t been beaten since February. “It’s very difficult at this moment for Coco Gauff, but she’s had a fantastic fortnight, she’s going to learn a lot from it,” Henman said on Eurosport.
“There will be plenty more Slam finals for Coco. They were brilliant speeches from both players, so genuine, so emotional, so honest and so wise for Swiatek to speak like that after one of the biggest moments in her career it’s fantastic.
You look at what she is doing for the women’s game right now and she’s dominating. She’s played absolutely brilliantly for the whole fortnight, and she’s a really worthy champion.”
Henman, Chris Evert on Swiatek’s victory
Swiatek came out firing as she broke Gauff three times in the first set to easily win the opener.
After easily losing the first set, Gauff bounced back at the start of the second set as she opened an early 2-0 lead. However, Gauff’s second set lead was short-lived as Swiatek quickly responded and managed to close out the match in straight sets.
“Iga was the better player out there today. I just have to say, about the emotions – these two young women are 21 and 18 years old – there are so many expectations and the occasion was so huge,” Evert said on Eurosport.
“At the end of the day, Iga was the one who opened up the court better, she was the one that had less unforced errors, she was all business, very, very focused and she was the one that dominated every single point from the first shot on.”
