Swiatek glad to 'survive' clay swing after rollercoaster finale

Swiatek glad to 'survive' clay swing after rollercoaster finale

Sports

Swiatek crouched down on the clay and shed tears at the end of a fierce battle with Muchova

PARIS (Reuters) - Holder Iga Swiatek endured an up-and-down final at Roland Garros on Saturday to claim her third French Open title in four years and said she was happy to survive a testing claycourt swing as the emotions reached their peak at the finish line.

The 22-year-old Swiatek crouched down on the clay and shed tears at the end of a fierce battle with unseeded Czech Karolina Muchova in which she dropped her first set in two weeks in Paris before sealing a 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory.

The world number one said she was left almost surprised that she closed out the victory as Muchova - who beat second seed Aryna Sabalenka with a late fightback in the semi-finals - double faulted on match point to bow out.

"I saw all these matches of Karolina when she was actually coming back from scores like that before match point, I wasn't really thinking it's going to happen now. I just played and I just gave it all," Swiatek told reporters.

"It's hard to describe. There was a lot of happiness. I felt suddenly tired of these three weeks. Maybe my matches weren't physically exhausting, but it's hard to keep your focus.

"And the whole swing. Since Stuttgart I haven't been home. So I'm happy I finished the whole claycourt swing so well, and that I survived. I'm never going to doubt my strength again maybe because of that." Swiatek said she had no regrets about dropping the second set after going 3-0 up.

"I just looked forward and I said to myself, 'OK, you know what? I'm going to give it all.' I wasn't thinking or analysing. I played my game, used my intuition, and that really helped," she said.

"After so many ups and downs, I stopped thinking about the score. I wanted to use my intuition more, I knew that I can play a little bit better if I'm going to get a little bit more loosened up. It helped, for sure, in the third set."