Jasmine Paolini spoke about Iga Swiatek in a way that many players have spoken about Rafael Nadal over the years as the Italian called the Pole “unbelievable” at Roland Garros and admitted that playing the current world at the French Open was “the biggest challenge” of her career.
Paolini, who is 28 and in the midst of her by far career-best year, clinched a couple of big wins and even stunned Elena Rybakina en route to making her first Grand Slam final at the French Open. But in the final, the ultimate test was waiting for Paolini and she didn’t manage to pass it after Swiatek claimed a dominant 6-2 6-1 win in the final.
Early in the match, Paolini came out playing aggressively and she earned a break in the third game to go 2-1 up. But after going up by a break, Paolini experienced how brutal Swiatek can be at Roland Garros – the Pole went on to win the next 10 games before completing a win with just three games lost.
By ousting Paolini, Swiatek improved to four French Open titles in her six appearances at the tournament. While the 23-year-old Pole is still far away from Nadal’s all-time French Open record of 14 titles, her Roland Garros is definitely resembling the Spaniard’s in some ways.
“She’s playing unbelievably here. She’s taking the balls…
