Gauff wins her first French Open title, defeating Sabalenka in final

The second-seeded Coco Gauff needed three sets to do it, but she bested Aryna Sabalenka, the top seed, in the women’s singles final at the 2025 French Open.

American Coco Gauff has secured her second career Grand Slam title with a win at the 2025 French Open, beating the top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in the women’s final on Saturday, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-4. She now has wins there and on the hard courts of the US Open, which she won in 2023 — also besting Sabalenka in the finals then, too.

It was a close and competitive match against Sabalenka, where both competitors struggled with the high wind on the clay courts of Roland Garros. But after a tiebreak first set that went to Sabalenka, Gauff powered back to a dominant second set and didn’t let up the pressure in the third.

It’s not exactly back to the drawing board for Sabalenka, who has had an incredible couple of seasons, including this tournament. Coming into the French Open, she was the world No. 1 by a wide margin, with 10,683 points to Gauff’s 6,863, per the WTA rankings. Gauff will gain some ground with Saturday’s win, however.

In the opening frame, Gauff served first and held, but Sabalenka quickly scored her first break after holding herself to go up 2-1. She then scored another break on Gauff’s next service game, but was broken herself shortly after when she made an unforced error at 40-all. From there, it only got worse for service games as the pair exchanged five consecutive breaks before it got to 6-6, with Sabalenka serving.

The tiebreak was close, but Sabalenka won it, and the opening frame, 7-6(5). Gauff stormed back though, dominating the second set at 6-2 after winning 63 percent of her first serves and 67 percent of her second, compared to Sabalenka’s 25 and 45 percents. That set up a third set for the win.

In the third, Gauff scored an early break, but Sabalenka fought back with a break of her own to stay in it and keep things on serve. Towards the end of the third, it started to feel like Sabalenka was getting tired, as she fought from down 5-3 to stay in it. She was successful, forcing Gauff to try and serve for the match up 5-4. She was successful, and so won arguably the biggest match of her career.

Going into Saturday’s match, Gauff and Sabalenka were as evenly matched as could be, at least when it comes to head-to-head record. They were split down the middle at five wins apiece over 10 professional meetings, including a 4-4 mark on hard courts and a 1-1 mark on clay courts, like that of Roland Garros. Their previous biggest meeting was at the 2023 US Open finals, where Gauff beat her in three sets to secure her first Grand Slam title.

At the French Open, Sabalenka didn’t drop any sets until her semifinal matchup, where she faced the tough Iga Świątek. She took the opening set in a tiebreak before dropping the second set to the fifth-seeded Świątek. Sabalenka took back control in a dominant third frame, ultimately winning 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-0.

Before that, her dispatched seeded opponents included the 16th-seeded American, Amanda Anisimova in the Round of 16 and the eighth-seeded Qinwen Zheng in the quarterfinals. Sabalenka bested both in straight sets and entered the final with little wear and tear on her body, at least from the clay courts of Roland Garros.

Gauff made it through the fourth round without dropping a set, but dropped one to fellow American Madison Keys, the seventh seed, in the quarterfinals. After beating Keys, she had a comparatively easy time with the unseeded local, Lois Boisson. That match ended quickly, 6-1, 6-2, sending Gauff into the final against Sabalenka. Her route to the final also included a straight-sets win over Ekaterina Alexandrova, the 20th seed, in the Round of 16.

The men’s final at the French Open will take place on Sunday, featuring the top two seeds just like the women’s bracket. Jannik Sinner, the top seed, will be taking on Carlos Alcaraz, the second seed.