2023 French Open: Meet the women's singles finalists
Iga Swiatek and Karolina Muchova will be facing off in the 2023 French Open women's singles final on Saturday. Swiatek is into her second successive final and a third overall. She is chasing a third Roland Garros honor and a fourth Grand Slam. Meanwhile, Muchova sealed her maiden Grand Slam final after a heroic performance against Aryna Sabalenka in the semis. Here's the preview.
Why does this story matter?
Swiatek goes into Saturday's final as the favorite, having bossed the tournament for the second successive season running. Since her maiden Slam win here in 2020, Swiatek has grown rapidly as a player to be above the rest. Meanwhile, Muchova will need to pull out a rabbit from her hat to stop Swiatek. She has played a solid brand of tennis so far.
Swiatek's road to the 2023 French Open final
In the first round, Polish star Swiatek beat Cristina Bucsa 6-4, 6-0. Next up, she overcame Claire Liu 6-4, 6-0. In the third round, Swiatek tamed Wang Xinyu 6-0, 6-0. In the fourth round, Lesia Tsurenko retired midway after trailing 1-5. In the quarters, Swiatek earned an impressive 6-4, 6-2 win over Coco Gauff. In the semis, she thwarted Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2, 7-6.
Muchova's road to the 2023 French Open final
Muchova defeated eighth seed Maria Sakkari in the first round (7-6, 7-5). In the second round, she prevailed against Nadia Podoroska in a 6-3, 0-6, 6-3 contest. She beat Irina-Camelia Begu next, winning 6-3, 6-2. In the round of 16, she beat Elina Avanesyan 6-4, 6-3. In the quarters, she thwarted Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2. In the semis, Muchova overcame Sabalenka 7-6, 6-7, 7-5.
Swiatek and Muchova's Grand Slam career in numbers
Swiatek owns a 27-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros. She won the title here in 2020 and 2022 respectively. Swiatek, who is a three-time Grand Slam champion, has a 60-13 win-loss record overall. Muchova's tally at Roland Garros is 11-4. At Grand Slams, she has a win-loss record of 33-16. Muchova's best performance before this was a semi-final berth at the 2021 Australian Open.
Swiatek's form in 2023
Swiatek owns a win-loss record of 34-6 this season. She has already claimed two titles, winning the Qatar Open and Stuttgart Open respectively. Swiatek started the season by losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open. She lost in the Dubai final, besides also going down in the summit clash in Madrid. She lost in the Indian Wells semis and Italian Open quarter-finals.
Muchova's form in 2023
Muchova has a 25-7 win-loss record in 2023. She is yet to win a single title in women's singles this season. Before the French Open, she exited the R16 in Rome, R64 in Madrid, R32 in Miami, the quarter-final at the Indian Wells Masters, the quarter-final in Dubai, R16 in Qatar, the second round at the Australian Open, and quarter-final at the ASB Classic.
Points and prize money at stake
As per WTA, Swiatek and Muchova have assured themselves 1,300 ranking points and 1,150,000 euros. Saturday's Roland Garros champion will take home 2,000 ranking points and 2.3 million euros. Swiatek is ranked number one in women's singles whereas Muchova is placed 43rd. Notably, Swiatek will leave Paris with her number one rank intact.
Massive records for Swiatek
As per Opta, only Margaret Court at the Australian Open (95.5%) and Roland-Garros (95.2%) have a higher winning ratio than Swiatek at Roland Garros (93.1%) in a single Grand Slam in the Open Era. Swiatek is the fourth youngest female player in the Open Era to reach her third final at Roland Garros, older only than Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, and Chris Evert.
Key numbers for Muchova
As per WTA, Muchova now owns a 5-0 record against the Top 3 players. As per Opta, Muchova is only the 3rd player ranked outside the WTA's top 40 to reach the final here after Jelena Ostapenko (2017) and Iga Swiatek (2020).
Timing and TV listing
The 2023 French Open women's singles final will start at 6:30pm IST. One can watch the match live on the SonySports Network and stream the same on the SonyLIV app (paid subscription).
