Gauff, the 21-year-old American star, became the first American woman to win at Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015 and the youngest since Williams’ breakthrough title in 2002. Today’s final was the first French Open women’s final between the top two seeds since 2012, and it lived up to the billing.
“I think the first one was maybe more emotional,” Gauff reflected after her win. “But I think this one was just harder, because you win one and you don’t want to be satisfied with just that. So ii was very difficult to match up.”
It was a fitting revenge for Gauff, who had lost to Sabalenka in Madrid earlier this year. But in Paris, the American flipped the script. Although Sabalenka fired more winners in the match, it was Gauff’s consistency and tactical composure, along with 40 fewer unforced errors, that turned the tide.
“Today, playing Aryna, I was just like, I just gotta go for it and try my best to get through the match.’ Yeah, that’s what I did,” she said.
The result deepens a growing rivalry between the pair. Gauff also came from behind to beat Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open final, where she claimed her maiden Grand Slam title. Now, she leads their head-to-head 6–5 overall, and 2–1 on both clay and at majors.
Coming into Roland Garros, Gauff had already proven herself as the clay-court season’s form player. Despite back-to-back WTA 1000 final losses in Madrid and Rome, she had accumulated more main-draw clay wins (18) than any other woman on tour , just ahead of Sabalenka’s 17. Now, she leaves Paris with her first title of the season, and the biggest prize of all.
“I also felt like this is one I really wanted, because I do think this was one of the tournaments that,” Gauff admitted. “When I was younger, I always felt like I had the best shot of winning here. I just felt like if I went through my career and didn’t get at least one of these, I would feel regrets.”
With the title, Gauff earns 2,000 ranking points and €2,550,000 in prize money. She maintains her career-high World No. 2 ranking and climbs to No. 2 in the Race to the WTA Finals Riyadh.
Sabalenka, despite the loss, remains firmly at No. 1 in both the WTA rankings and the race to the year-end finals. She collects €1,275,000 as runner-up and falls to 3–3 in Grand Slam finals.
