Swiatek vs Paolini: Roland Garros Final Analysis

Iga's Frenchtastic Fourth

cover 📸 credit: Roland Garros twitter

The world #1 Iga Swiatek defeated first-time Major finalist Jasmine Paolini to take home her 4th Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

It was the conclusion of an historic title run that featured a bit of everything — from cold, rainy conditions on a closed Philippe Chatrier to warmer temperatures under a sunny sky; from facing a qualifier to a former #1; from witnessing a Major finalist debut to defeating 3 different Major winners; from losing only 10 points in a match to winning while losing 7 more points; from a double-bagel to a comeback from match point down.

For the first time in her career, Swiatek grabbed the triple crown of big clay court tournaments in a season, after defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid and Rome finals.

It is unfair and inaccurate to claim Swiatek was unchallenged during this year’s clay swing. Swiatek lost to Elena Rybakina in Stuttgart and needed to save matchpoint(s) in 2 of her 3 title runs. It is true that Swiatek scored a number of lopsided wins. But she also ended almost always on the winning side of closer matches thanks to one of her prime strengths — the ability to bring her best level when facing adversity!

With 3 consecutive Roland Garros titles, Swiatek will carry a 21-match winning streak in Paris to next month’s Olympic Games.

Entering the grass court season, Swiatek’s overall unbeaten run stands at 19 matches.

After losses to Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open last year (that cost the #1 position) and to Veronika Kudermetova in Tokyo, Swiatek made a spectacular reset. She rebounded with a title in Beijing and finished 2023 on a 11-match winning streak. That streak continued through the United Cup and reached 18 matches, until a Round 3 defeat to Linda Noskova at the Australian Open.

Overall, since the start of her Beijing participation, Swiatek holds a 56-4 win-loss record (93.3%) and the following titles:

• Roland Garros 2024

• WTA Tour Finals Cancun 2023

• 5 WTA 1000s (2023: Beijing; 2024: Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome)

In her career, Swiatek improved to a 22-4 record in finals (84.6%) and remains undefeated in 5 Major finals.

Extraordinary numbers for a recent 23-year-old!

Each point is considered only once. Therefore, aces are not included in winner totals and double faults are not included in unforced error totals.

Already a winner of a WTA 1000 this year, Jasmine Paolini was living the best days of her tennis career. After an upset win over 4th-seed Elena Rybakina in her first-ever Major quarter-final, Paolini eliminated teen sensation Mirra Andreeva with a mature performance to book a dream weekend: she would play both singles and doubles (alongside Sara Errani) finals at Roland Garros.

But it must have felt bittersweet.

Waiting for Paolini in the biggest opportunity of her singles career thus far would be arguably the toughest proposition in women’s tennis nowadays — Swiatek on Chatrier.

It was delightful to see Paolini not overwhelmed by the occasion. Instead, she was fearless from the first point. Her bravery was duly rewarded when she broke serve first, for a 2-1 opening set lead. Even though Swiatek reacted with a gigantic 10-game run, Paolini remained positive, fighting and fist-pumping when finishing well-constructed points.

From start to finish, Paolini didn’t lose her smile and she enjoyed every minute! A true example!

📺 credit: Eurosport

First 3 games — Paolini’s dream start

It was Paolini’s exceptional attitude in combination with Swiatek’s uncharacteristic backhand errors that brought an unexpected start.

In 21 points, Swiatek accumulated 7 unforced errors (5 on backhands) while Paolini had a single unforced error.

Swiatek (53 strokes)

• 3 winners + 3 forcing shots

• 11 errors (7 unforced errors)

* plus 1 ace

Paolini (49 strokes)

• 1 winner + 3 forcing shots

• 5 errors (1 UFE)

Backhand Performance (Return & Groundstroke)

• Swiatek: 1 forcing / 6 errors (5 UFEs) in 27 strokes

• Paolini: 1 winner / 3 errors (1 UFE) in 25 strokes

* Scores calculated according to: Winner +1; Forcing Shot +0.5; Unforced Error -1; Forced Error -0.5

The first break arrived because Swiatek made 3 “serve+1” unforced errors during the 3rd game.

Remarkably, since recovering from 2-5 down against Naomi Osaka in Round 2 (including a match point save), Swiatek had only been a break down once, when trailing Coco Gauff 1-3 in the 2nd set.

10 game sequence — Swiatek’s emphatic run