Three cheers for Swiatek

Top seed extends her reign at Roland Garros with dominant win over Paolini

- HOWARD FENDRICH

Iga Swiatek poses for a photo with the ball boys and girls after winning the women's final at the French Open on Saturday.

For a few minutes anyway, it seemed as if Iga Swiatek was a bit off in the French Open final against Jasmine Paolini. Swiatek kept making mistakes, got broken in the third game and trailed at Court Philippe Chatrier.

Might a true surprise be in the offing? Could Paolini not only make a match of this but actually win it? Um, no. Not even close. Not with the way Swiatek can dominate opponents, especially on red clay.

The top-seeded Swiatek quickly recalibrated her wayward strokes and simply overwhelmed Paolini, grabbing 10 games in a row en route to Saturday’s 6-2, 6-1 victory for a third consecutive championship at Roland Garros and fourth in five years.

The 23-year-old from Poland had to save a match point in a second-round victory against Naomi Osaka.

But in five matches after that three-set escape, Swiatek dropped a total of only 17 games.

“This tournament has been pretty surreal with its beginning and with second round, and then I was able to get my game better and better every match,” said Swiatek, who is 35-2 at the French Open, including a current streak of 21 victories. “I’m really proud of myself, because the expectations obviously have been pretty high from the outside — pressure as well.”