Iga Swiatek cruises past Sofia Kenin to capture French Open title

Unseeded Iga Swiatek capped a perfect fortnight in Paris with a routine 6-4 6-1 victory over fourth seed Sofia Kenin in the French Open final. The 19-year-old has become the first Polish player — man or woman — to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Swiatek lost no sets and just 23 games en route to the final. The Pole continued that impressive trend in the title match against the reigning Australian Open champion, dropping just five games in one hour and 24 minutes.

Perfectly calm and collected, Swiatek won the final as if she was playing a first-round at an International-level event. The teenager makes tennis seem like the easiest thing in the world. There were no excessive emotions. Making only her second main-draw appearance in Paris, Swiatek looked like she just dropped by to casually pick up the trophy. It’s hard to imagine that this is her first career title! And don’t forget that she also reached the semifinals in doubles, with Nicole Melichar.

The world No.54 Swiatek opened the final with a 3-0 lead. Kenin clawed back to 3-3, but then lost two games in a row as Swiatek got the chance to serve for the set. The world No.6 saved one set point and stayed in contention, but Swiatek broke right back to take the first set.

The 21-year-old Kenin opened the second set by breaking Swiatek, but that was all we got from the American, as the Pole cruised through the remainder of the match.

En route to the title, Swiatek eased past top seed and favorite Simona Halep in the fourth round. She also dispatched last year’s Roland Garros finalist Marketa Vondrousova in the first round, Hsieh Su-Wei in the second round, former world No.5 Eugenie Bouchard in the third round, and a pair of qualifiers late at the tournament — Martina Trevisan and Nadia Podoroska.

Swiatek will now rise to No.17 in the WTA rankings.