At the beginning of the second week the idea that the same player would win both the women’s singles and the women’s doubles title started being floated in tennis circles, but everyone thought that the player to accomplish this remarkable feat would be Polish 20-year-old Iga Swiatek. Not many considered former doubles world no. 1 Barbora Krejcikova to be in the conversation, at least for the singles title. After all, she had never been past the Round of 16 in a Slam, reached only once at Roland Garros in 2020.
But as the 25-year-old Czech, n. 33 of the WTA Ranking, raised towards the Parisian sky the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen handed to her by legend Martina Navratilova while still in the double’s final with her long-time partner Katerina Siniakova, the world realized there is a new name in women’s tennis to deal with.
In a nerves-filled final between two debutantes at this level of a Major, Barbora Krajcikova from Ivancice, Czech Republic, defeated Russian 29-year-old Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 in 1 hour, 58 minutes and brought home her first Grand Slam title, the first for a player from her country since July 2014, when Petra Kvitova won the Wimbledon title defeating Eugenie Bouchard in the final.
The match was full of ups and downs. The first two sets risked being almost symmetrical, as in set one, Krajcikova shook off some initial jitters and an inaugural break before winning six games in a row to win the first set by 6-3 in just 30 minutes. Her backhand was working just like a treat, keeping Pavlyuchenkova at bay and, above all, behind the baseline. However, in the second set things seemed completely reversed, as Pavlyuchenkova seemed to be able to take control of the rallies and unleash her powerful shot to climb to a 5-1 lead, but failed to complete the reversed 6-1 by not converting a set-point in the seventh game, before wrapping up the set just a game later.
Pavlyuchenkova had to request a medical time-out at 2-5 in the second set to get some treatment for her left thigh which ended up heavily strapped until the end of the match.
The decisive moment of the match came on the sixth game of the final set, when Krejcikova went on a 12-points-to-3 streak, taking her to a 5-3 lead and allowing the Czech player to serve out the match despite missing the first match point with a double fault.
This accomplishment not only earns Krejcikova the 1.4 million Euro cheque for the first prize, but also means she will reach her career best ranking next Monday at no. 15, making it into the Top 20 for the first time.
