Iga Swiatek becomes first woman in Open Era to win Roland Garros three years in a row as No. 1 seed

Winning Roland Garros three years in a row is already a rare feat, but what about winning in Paris three years in a row as the No. 1 seed, with all of the pressure in the world on your shoulders?

Well, Iga Swiatek just did that at Roland Garros, and it’s historic—she’s actually the first woman to win Roland Garros three years in a row as the No. 1 seed in the entire Open Era.

Two other women—Monica Seles and Justine Henin—have won in Paris three years in a row in the Open Era, Seles 1990 to 1992 and Henin 2005 to 2007. But they weren’t the top seed every year.

Seles was the No. 2 seed when she lifted her first trophy there in 1990, then the No. 1 seed the next two years. Henin was the No. 10 seed in 2005, the No. 5 seed in 2006 and the No. 1 seed in 2007.

Swiatek is actually just the fourth woman in the Open Era to win any of the four Grand Slam events three years in a row as top seed.

WOMEN TO WIN THE SAME MAJOR THREE YEARS IN A ROW AS NO. 1 SEED (Open Era):

• Chris Evert at US Open [1975-1977]
• Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon [1982-1987]
• Steffi Graf at Australian Open [1988-1990]
• Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros [2022-2024]

When Swiatek won Roland Garros for the first time in 2020, it was a major surprise—she was 19 years old, ranked No. 54 and unseeded. She was actually the lowest-ranked player to lift the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen since official WTA rankings began in 1975.

But she’s won her second, third and fourth Roland Garros titles in 2022, 2023 and now 2024 as the world No. 1 and heavy favorite, capping her latest title run with a nerveless 6-2, 6-1 championship victory over Jasmine Paolini on Saturday afternoon.

The 23-year-old has now won her last 19 matches in a row, the longest streak on the tour this year, her last loss coming to Elena Rybakina in the semifinals of Stuttgart in April.

She’s now on a 21-match winning streak in Paris, too, her last loss coming three years ago to Maria Sakkari in the quarterfinals.