French Open 2020: Iga Swiatek becomes Poland's first Grand Slam champion; goes without dropping a set, other stats

Paris: Teen Iga Swiatek has become the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title after beating fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in the French Open final. The 19-year-old Swiatek did so without dropping a set. Kenin was looking to win her second major title of the year after winning the Australian Open. She left the court for a few minutes to take a medical timeout at 2-1 down and came back with her left thigh heavily strapped. Swiatek broke her for a 3-1 lead and secured a love hold for 4-1. She won on her first match point with a forehand winner down the left of court which flew past Kenin. In so doing, Swiatek created quite a few records: Swiatek is the first Polish player to win a Major title. The last Polish player to reach the Roland Garros final was Jadwiga Jedrzejowska in 1939 and overall it came back in 2012 (Agnieszka Radwanska). She is the third Polish singles or doubles player to win a Major after Lukasz Kubot and Wojtek Fibak. Swiatek dropped no sets and just 28 games on the way to lifting the trophy. The last female player to go without dropping a set at Roland Garros was Justine Henin in 2007. Iga is the second unseeded woman to win the Roland Garros title in the Open Era after Jelena Ostapenko in 2017. Overall, she is the fifth - after Sloane Stephens, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Chris O’Neil. Since the inception of computerised rankings in 1975, Swiatek is the lowest-ranked champion in Paris. She came into the tournament as World No. 54 and walks away with the trophy and entry into the top-20 at No. 17 Swiatek is the fourth player in the last 40 years to have won a Grand Slam as their first career title. Previously, Mats Wilander, Gustavo Kuerten and Ostapenko all won a Major and incidentally all were French Open titles. Swiatek joins the illustrious company of Evonne Goolagong, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf to become the fourth teenager to win Roland Garros without dropping a set. Other teenagers to win a Slam without dropping a set include Monica Seles and Martina Hingis. At 19 years, 132 days, Swiatek is the youngest woman to win French Open since Seles (18 years, 187 days) in 1992. Overall, she is the youngest winner in Paris since Rafael Nadal won his first title in 2005 at the age of 19. Iga mentioned Rafa in her speech on court. Kenin, meanwhile, has her Grand Slam record in 2020 read 16-2 now. Despite the defeat, she has the best record at a Major among all women. Her other defeat came against Elise Mertens at the US Open. (With AP inputs)