2022 marks 1st time WTA World No. 1 has won Australian Open and French Open in the same year since Serena Williams in 2015
It isn't often on the WTA tour that Serena Williams' achievements are matched. However, courtesy of Iga Swiatek's triumph at Roland Garros, the WTA World No. 1 has won both the Australian Open and the French Open for the first time since 2015, when Williams won the first two Majors of the year.
Unlike in 2015, though, the Australian Open and French Open were won by two different players. Australian Ashleigh Barty won her home Grand Slam back in January, while Swiatek reigned supreme in Paris for the second time in her career.
First time since 2015 where World No.1 won AO and RG!
#RolandGarros https://t.co/X9SwYiceCh
Barty won the 2022 Australian Open as the then top-ranked women's singles player in the world. It was her third Grand Slam singles title. In a surprising turn of events, the Aussie retired from tennis a couple of weeks after winning the title, and Swiatek took over the World No. 1 spot in Miami.
There was no looking back for Swiatek, who won 35 matches and six titles on the trot. She matched Serena Williams' 34-match unbeaten run by reaching the Roland Garros final and beat Coco Gauff in straight sets in the title clash to surpass the American.
Iga Swiatek has now won 18 consecutive sets in finals, has not lost more than 5 games in her last 9 finals.
2022 RG: 61 63
2022 Rome: 62 62
2022 Stuttgart: 62 62
2022 Miami: 64 60
2022 IW: 64 61
2022 Doha: 62 60
2021 Rome: 60 60
2021 Adelaide: 62 62
2020 RG: 64 61
Looking back at Serena Williams' incredible 2015 WTA season
Serena Williams entered the 2015 season on the back of a supreme 2014 campaign in which she won as many as seven titles. 2015 was one of her most memorable years and she came ever so close to completing the Calendar Slam.
The American started her season at the Australian Open. After seeing off tough challenges from Elina Svitolina and Garbine Muguruza in the initial rounds, Williams was at her dominant best towards the latter stages. She defeated maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-6(5) to win her sixth Australian Open title.
of clay--> wtatenn.is/U6fnPI #WTA
2015 Season in Review
@SerenaWilliams= 👑 of clay--> wtatenn.is/U6fnPI #WTA https://t.co/H69rs60kQy
She clinched the Miami Open a few weeks later and capped off a successful clay season by winning her third French Open and 20th Grand Slam title. Williams carried that form into the Wimbledon Championships, which she won for the sixth time. By doing so, she jumped to third on the all-time Grand Slam leaderboard with 21 titles, behind Margaret Court and Steffi Graf.
.@Wimbledon Flashback: 2015 ⏪
@serenawilliams seals victory to make it a second ’Serena Slam’! 🤩 —> wtatennis.com/news/1722794/w… https://t.co/Smm3tR1cAe
Her next title came at the Western and Southern Open in Cincinnati, in the build-up to the US Open. Bidding to become just the second woman in the Open Era to win the Calendar Slam, Williams powered her way to the US Open semifinals, where she suffered a shock loss to Roberta Vinci.
She ended the season with an impressive 53-3 win-loss record and as World No. 1.