How brilliant Coco Gauff tormented Aryna Sabalenka to win a ‘terrible’ French Open final

When Coco Gauff played her first French Open final at the age of 18, she walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier having already written off her chances. Three years later, as she returned to the Roland Garros final, Gauff similarly believed that there would only be one outcome when she faced Aryna Sabalenka.

Only this time, in an epic, turbulent three-set comeback, there was no giving up, no lost causes, as Gauff dismantled the World No 1 to become a two-time grand slam champion at the age of 21.

With equal amounts of resilience and composure, Gauff overturned an imperious start from Sabalanka and executed another perfect game plan, with this 6-7 6-2 6-4 bearing remarkable significance to her victory over Sabalenka in the 2023 US Open final. After absorbing Sabalenka’s heavy blows, Gauff counter-punched her way out of trouble, scrambling her opponent’s powerful attacking game with incredible athleticism and sheer determination.

Sabalenka malfunctioned, an ominous start and first-set lead evaporating as the errors mounted. She finished with 70, over double the amount of Gauff. On a cold, blustery day where the conditions were difficult and the Belarusian could not hit through the court with her usual zip, Gauff forced more mistakes by extending points beyond their limits, giving Sabalenka ball after ball to deal with.

Sabalenka has now lost back-to-back grand slam finals after her defeat to Madison Keys in Melbourne. Afterwards, she was in tears and apologised for playing a “terrible” final, but Gauff dragged Sabalenka into another nightmare.

The seeds of doubt Gauff managed to plant towards the end of an first set that was fraught with tension finally bore fruit in the second and third, when the American closed in on the finish line behind her steadier serve, touch at the net, and tenacity to attack Sabalenka’s faltering serve, which coughed up many double faults at crucial moments.

With Gauff serving for the title at 5-4 in the third, Sabalenka went for one last swing: on match point, Sabalenka went for a mail-mary of a forehand return that caught the back of the line. A few moments later, Gauff faced break point and Sabalenka went for the same return, only this time dragged it wide by a foot.

On the second match point, Sabalenka stopped as Gauff looked to have gone long, only for it to drop in at the final moment. Sabalenka reacted in just enough time to return the ball, but Gauff put her under pressure. Sabalenka missed on the final backhand as Gauff crumpled to the key and kissed the white paint on the baseline.

In their 10 previous meetings, split evenly at five wins each, Sabalenka and Gauff had contested a series of rollercoaster, seesaw battles where each would attempt to shield their weakness while playing to their strengths. Their styles make for a classic match-up of powerful attack against counter-punching defence, which Gauff had used to overturn Sabalenka in her maiden grand slam triumph in the 2023 US Open final.

In difficult, blustery conditions, the opening set brought both sides of this sharp contrast. Sabalenka jumped on tentative serving from Gauff to establish an early double-break, hitting a scorching series of deep returns and strikes that either thundered past the American or rushed the timing of her occasionally vulnerable forehand.

But down 1-4, Gauff used the momentum of a sloppy service game from Sabalenka to get back into the set. The American used her supreme athleticism and running power to drag Sabalenka into the extended rallies and force a number of baffling, bewildering errors from the World No 1.

It made for a compelling, wildly unpredictable end to the opener, where Sabalenka served for the set twice but Gauff broke back both times. The 21-year-old prevailed in an epic 12-minute game when Sabalenka served for it at 5-4, with the Belarusian making a double fault on set point and then putting a simple volley into the net after scrambling defence from Gauff.

Gauff saved her best moment to force the tiebreak, after Sabalenka saved for the set again at 6-5. Running to her backhand to anticipate a Sabalenka smash, Gauff redirected a stunning defensive winner down the line. She roared into the decider, jumping into a confident 4-1 lead.

However, after 77 minutes, the set finished where it started, with Sabalenka thundering the returns at the Gauff second serve. Sabalenka remained composed to win an extended rally at 5-5, flashing the forehand crosscourt, then, on her second set point, obliterated a second serve from Gauff that creeped over the net at 79mph. Sabalenka closed the net to put away the drop-volley and moved one set away.

And yet, barely half an hour later, Gauff was level again. As Sabalenka’s level and energy plummeted, barely getting a return back in play as Gauff dominated on the serve, the American flipped the script. She broke Sabalenka in the opening game, setting the tone for a one-sided set where she disrupted Sabalenka with tactical returns and composed shot-making.

Gauff was reading Sabalenka’s every move and the World No 1 could not reverse the direction of the final. She was broken in the third game of the third with a double fault, with a confident Gauff bringing up two points for a double-break in the fifth game. Sabalenka saved the second with a backhand down the line that looked to stir her into life as she then broke back to level at 3-3.

Was that the final rope-a-dope? Gauff came back swinging, breaking Sabalenka to love. Another double fault, on 0-30, proved costly, but Gauff punished it by flying to her left and finding the angled backhand winner crosscourt. She took to the final game, where Sabalenka felt she had to go bigger than ever to save the match: she almost did, but Gauff’s belief never left her.