French Open 2023: Iga Swiatek one win away from becoming 1st player since Serena Williams to defend WTA Slam title
Iga Swiatek will be hoping to achieve a milestone that no women tennis player has managed to accomplish since Serena Williams at the 2016 Wimbledon championships. The Pole will be looking to defend a Grand Slam title at the 2023 French Open.
Swiatek is on the cusp of retaining her Roland Garros title and will be up against Czech Republic's Karolina Muchova in the final. The 22-year-old has steamrolled through her draw, winning every match in straight sets. The closest she got to dropping a set was during the second set tiebreaker she played against Beatriz Haddad Maia in the semifinal.
This won't be Swiatek's first Grand Slam title defense, as she failed to do so at the 2021 French Open, losing to Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals, 6-4, 6-4.
Serena Williams was the last women's player to defend her Grand Slam triumph, as she backed her win at the 2015 Wimbledon Championship by reclaiming the title in 2016. The 23-time Grand Slam winner defeated Garbine Muguruza in the 2015 Wimbledon Championship final, 6-4, 6-4, and Angelique Kerber in the 2016 final, 7-5, 6-3.
Since then, the closest a women's Grand Slam winner has gotten to defending her title has been the quarterfinal round. There have been three such instances- Sloane Stephens at the 2018 US Open (l. Anastasija Sevastova, 6-2, 6-3), Simona Halep at the 2019 Roland Garros (l. Amanda Anisimova, 6-2, 6-4), and, as mentioned above, Iga Swiatek at the 2021 Roland Garros.
The Pole has a very good chance of breaking this trend, as she has looked unbeatable throughout the 2023 French Open and will be the firm favorite to lift the trophy in Paris this week. However, World No. 43 Muchova has an impressive 5-0 record against top 3 players and is coming off a resilient win against World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals.
Iga Swiatek retains her World No. 1 ranking after entering French Open final
Iga Swiatek would have relinquished her World No. 1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka if the Pole was defeated before the semifinals of the 2023 French Open.
The 22-year-old has been World No. 1 since April 4, 2022. She ascended to the top of the WTA Rankings by default after Ashleigh Barty's surprise retirement. Since then, Swiatek has produced stunning results to keep her ranking. She ended the 2022 season with eight titles (two Grand Slams, four WTA 1000s, two WTA 500s) and 11,085 year-end ranking points.
However, her lead has been cut short in 2023. Swiatek has only managed to defend two titles so far (Stuttgart Open and Qatar Open) and failed to back up title wins at Indian Wells Open, Miami Open, and Italian Open.
This meant that Swiatek began her title defense at the 2023 French Open with 8,940 points, just 1399 points ahead of Sabalenka and with 2000 points to defend.
With the Pole's entry into the final of the French Open and Sabalenka's defeat in the semifinals, it is now confirmed that Iga Swiatek will retain her World No. 1 after the tournament. Even if Swiatek fails to win Roland Garros, she will end the tournament with 8240 points, while Sabalenka will have 8012.