Gauff Reverse Sweeps Sabalenka to Win First-Ever French Open title

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

She was down, but she was never out.

After conceding the first set via a heartbreaking tiebreaker loss, American ace Coco Gauff didn’t let down and continued to fight, stunning world no. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the last two sets to score an emphatic reverse sweep- 6-7, 6.2, 6.4- to claim her first-ever Grand Slam title in the French Open on June 7, 2025.

An early drama in the opener highlighted the battle between the world no. 1 and the world no. 2 as they failed to be separated in the regular sets, necessitating a tiebreaker to settle the score.

However, it was Sabalenka who came through midway in the first, breaking Gauff’s service possession to establish a one-point cushion before holding her possession to run away with a tightly contested 1-0 lead.

It was what the tennis fans wanted in a grand finale. An early tiebreaker in the most prestigious Grand Slam clay surface, and the top 2 Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) vying for supremacy in a 50-50 match.

Sabalenka cruised first after scoring an early break to increase her lead to 3-1, but Gauff stepped up in the remaining four frames to force a tiebreaker, only to be spoiled by the Belarusian’s clutch plays in the deciding set.

Just when Sabalenka thought that Gauff already missed a step, the clay surface aspirant came up with a more efficient plan when the second set kicked off and avoided the risky down-the-line backhand attempts.

In the first set, Gauff tallied three crucial unforced errors in her down-the-line attempts, which allowed Sabalenka to regain her footing and maintain her lead.

Wise enough to play the percentages, Gauff waited for the perfect timing to throw her deep baseline ground strokes and that adjustment paid off dividends after Sabalenka started to commit some costly unforced errors that changed the complexion of the match.

Gauff officially dropped the hammer after scoring her second straight break point in the second set to reach set point, and concluded the frame with a series of won exchanges in two long rallies to level the championship match at 1-1.

From that point, after winning the second set with a wide disparity, the 21-year-old stalwart took advantage of Sabalenka’s error-plagued outing and stepped on the gas pedal in the third.

Gauff still kicked off the winning set with a conservative approach, but later on turned on the jets after winning eight out of the 12 long rally exchanges.

On the other hand, Sabalenka went out flat and failed to revive her spark when she escaped Gauff in the nip-and-tuck first-set affair.

“I think this Grand Slam win was harder than the first because you don’t want to get satisfied with just that one. I was going through a lot of things when I lost here three years ago. I’m just glad to be back here. I was going through a lot of dark thoughts,” said Gauff during her post-match interview.