Coco Gauff Becomes First American Woman Since Serena Williams To Win French Open
US Coco Gauff eyes the ball as she plays against Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka during their women's ... More singles final match on day 14 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Coco Gauff roared back from a set down to capture her first Roland Garros title and become the first American woman in a decade to win the French Open.
No. 2 Gauff overcame a first-set deficit to beat No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4 to become the first American woman since Serena Williams in 2015 to win the title in Paris.
Gauff became the seventh American woman to win Roland Garros in the Open Era. She won her second major following the 2023 U.S. Open, where she also overcame a one-set deficit to beat Sabalenka.
The winner takes home nearly $2.9 million and the runner-up $1.4 million.
In the decisive third set, Sabalenka double-faulted to give Gauff a break for 2-1.
Gauff led 3-1 and had break points for 4-1 but Sabalenka held and then broke for 3-all.
Gauff roared back and broke at love for 4-3 with a backhand crosscourt winner. Sabalenka sailed a backhand long as Gauff seized a 5-3 lead.
Serving at 5-4, 30-all, Gauff crushed a forehand crosscourt winner to earn match point. But Sabalenka hit the baseline with a forehand that staved it off.
Sabalenka had a break point at ad-out, but hit a forehand wide.
On the second match point, Sabalenka hit a backhand wide and Gauff felt to her back on the court.
In a first set that featured eight service breaks, Sabalenka roared out to a 4-1, 40- lead and appeared to be cruising. She won 16 of the first 22 points.
But Gauff found her groove and won 12 straight points to tighten it up.
Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka eyes the ball as she plays against US Coco Gauff during their women's ... More singles final match on day 14 of the French Open tennis tournament on Court Philippe-Chatrier at the Roland-Garros Complex in Paris on June 7, 2025. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Sabalenka twice served for the set before Gauff broke her for 6-all with a backhand down the line.
Sabalenka stuck a forehand volley winner to win the first set in the tiebreak despite committing 32 unforced errors.
In the second set, Gauff raced out to a quick lead, winning 10 straight points to go up 2-0. She broke again for 5-2 and then served it, evening the match at one set apiece with a forehand overhead winner.
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Given the chance to praise Gauff's inspired defensive showing, Sabalenka said that her opponent had won the match 'by running and playing those high balls from the frame,' before saying directly that Gauff had framed, or mishit, numerous shots. Advertisement 'She was hitting the ball from the frame. Somehow magically the ball lands in the court … Yeah, it's just, you know, like — it felt like a joke, honestly, like somebody from above was just staying there laughing, like, 'let's see if you can handle this.' 'I think she won the match not because she played incredible; just because I made all of those mistakes from if you look from the outside, from easy balls.' Tennis is seen as a 50-50 battle, but matchups and gamestyles mean that this is not always the case. Gauff won Saturday's final by assuming the role of supporting actor to Sabalenka the protagonist, knowing that the match was not on her racket and making her greatest assets — her court coverage, lateral movement, and baseline defense — the most important things in the match. She played the conditions. Sabalenka did not, saying afterward that as the match wore on and it got windier, she became 'overemotional.' She compared her unraveling to the last time she played Gauff in a Grand Slam final, at the U.S. Open two years ago. 'Another terrible performance from me against Coco in the final,' she said. Sabalenka added that had the four-time champion Iga Świątek beaten her in Thursday's semifinal, 'I think she would go out today and she would get the win.' In her own news conference, Gauff responded. 'I mean, I don't agree with that. I'm here sitting here,' she said. 'Last time I played — no shade to Iga or anything, but I played her and I won in straight sets. Yeah, I don't think that's a fair thing to say, because anything can really happen.' This leaves Sabalenka in a strange place. She remains world No. 1 by a distance, but she hasn't won a Grand Slam title and has been way below her best level in both finals. Throughout the match, she seemed uncomfortable with the shifts in momentum occasioned, in part, by the complicated conditions. But a similar shift happened against Świątek: in both matches, Sabalenka led 4-1, had a point for 5-1, and was pulled back into a tiebreak, one under the roof and one in the open air. Against Świątek under the roof, Sabalenka reset, one less intangible to fight. Against Gauff, the collection of intangibles — the weather, the stakes, the history — appeared to overwhelm her. Advertisement And for regular watchers of her matches, her reaction to Saturday's defeat was essentially an extension of how she reacts to smaller moments of disappointment within matches: berating herself and not accepting that occasionally her opponents will be too good. This kind of mentality is part of what drives great champions. But is showing it always helpful? Her performance coach Jason Stacy was asked this question in a news conference Friday and pointed to one of the team's mantras: 'Don't fight it, don't feed it.' He expanded by saying: 'We don't want to fight this, because the stress, anxiety, the pressure, the mistakes, all those things are going to be there, so you can't pretend it's not going to be a thing, but you don't want to feed it either and give it too much energy or power.' Asked if Sabalenka's frustrations were a boost, Gauff said that she didn't read too much into it, but: 'Obviously when you see your opponent frustrated in any circumstance, if it's tough or not, obviously it does uplift you just because you know that they're frustrated.' Sabalenka will head to the Greek island of Mykonos to recharge and in her words indulge in 'tequila, gummy bears, and swimming.' She laughed as she said that she would be 'like the tourist for couple of days'. But even as she tried to lighten the mood and look ahead to her holiday, she couldn't help but go back to lambasting the events of the previous few hours. 'I just need couple of days to completely forget about this crazy world and this crazy — if I could swear, I would swear right now, about this crazy thing that happened today,' she said. 'I think everyone understands. I'm just trying to be very polite right now, but there is no other word that could describe what just happened today on the court.' All things being equal, Sabalenka is undoubtedly the best player in the world. But tennis matches are not equal. It's how she manages the intangibles that can shape them that will define the next phase of her career.
