French Open: Coco Gauff emulates Venus Williams, Steffi Graf in absorbing Aryna Sabalenka victory

American powerhouse Coco Gauff became French Open women's singles champion for the first time thanks to an absorbing three-set comeback win over Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday's final on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

The world number two recovered from losing an unmissable first set to triumph 6-7[5] 6-2 6-4 in a two-hour and 38-minute marathon and be crowned queen of Roland-Garros for the first time in her still embryonic career.

Adding to her 2023 US Open triumph over the same opponent, Gauff is now a two-time major champion, while it is back-to-back heartbreak for Sabalenka after her defeat to Madison Keys in the Australian Open final.

The 21-year-old kept a perennially calm and composed figure throughout the fascinating final, but all the emotions finally came out at the end, as she burst into euphoric tears on the clay surface before a warm embrace with Sabalenka.

Gauff is now the first woman to win a Grand Slam final against the world number one after losing the first set since Venus Williams against Lindsay Davenport at Wimbledon in 2005, and the first to do so at the French Open since Steffi Graf vs. Martina Hingis in 1999.

Meanwhile, a distraught Sabalenka was left to rue an astronomical 70 unforced errors in the final, the most in any women's singles match at the 2025 French Open.

How Gauff completed captivating comeback to sink Sabalenka

I break, you break was the theme of an engrossing first set, one in which Sabalenka seemed to be running away with as she stormed into a 4-1 advantage.

However, thanks to a combination of unforced errors from the world number one and some sensational passing shots from the world number two, Gauff remarkably got the final back on serve at 4-4 before even more chaos ensued.

An incredible four successive breaks followed en route to a tie-breaker, as Sabalenka failed to serve out the opening set on two occasions, but the pendulum would swing again as the Belarusian fought back from 3-0 down to take the decider.

Making double the amount of unforced errors - 32 compared to Gauff's 16 - did not prove fatal for Sabalenka in the opener, but the American remained as unfazed as ever, and it showed in a much less even second set.

Sabalenka losing serve right away set the tone for set two, where she capitulated behind her first serve, winning a meagre 25% of such points and only saving one of the four break points Gauff fashioned.

The world number one was powerless to stop herself committing more costly mistakes in the winner-takes-all third set, losing serve in the third game on the double fault, although she saved two break points in the fifth before drawing level at 3-3.

However, the seventh game would be the one that hammered the biggest nail into Sabalenka's coffin, as a ruthless Gauff broke to love before holding to 15 to move one game away from glory.

Sabalenka at least managed to force Gauff to serve out the win thanks to a stunning down-the-line forehand, and after heroically saving the first match point with a wonderful return, she brought up a critical chance to break the American.

That opening went begging on a wide forehand, though, and another mishit backhand on Gauff's second championship point saw the American's name etched on the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen.

Written by
Ben Knapton