Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner played the match of the decade, and maybe the century, at Roland Garros

After all of the upset carnage in this year’s women’s event—nine of the Top 10 seeds were gone before the second week began—we end up with a final that’s both logical and promising, with quality and star power in equal measure. Iga Swiatek’s presence is the logical part: She’s No. 1 and riding a 34-match win streak that dates back to February. Coco Gauff’s presence is the promising part. At 18, she’s living up to the hype that was lavished on her when she made her pro debut three years ago.

The 21-year-old Pole and the 18-year-old American have known each since their junior days. They almost met in the girls’ final at Roland Garros in 2018; Swiatek lost in the semis after having a match point against Caty McNally, and then Gauff beat McNally in the final.

So far in the big leagues, though, Swiatek has progressed faster than Gauff on all surfaces, and especially in 2022. She’s ranked No. 1, while Gauff is No. 23, and she already has an adult Roland Garros title to her name. Swiatek has also won both times they’ve played; in their most recent meeting, she beat Gauff 6-3, 6-1, which is basically what she has been doing to everyone for the last four months.

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Gauff has the attributes needed to stay with Swiatek: She’s fast and strong; she can defend and attack.

Gauff knows that turning that result around won’t be easy.

“She’s not going to give you much opportunities,” Gauff said of Swiatek. “Watching her play, I think she does a great job of like changing direction and like hitting angles off the court—and hitting winners, she’s always hitting winners.

“I think going into the match I’m going to try to be aggressive at the right moments and patient at the right moments. I played her in Miami, and I think sometimes I made some unforced errors in some unnecessary times. I think I’m going to focus on trying not to do that as much.”

Gauff has the attributes needed to stay with Swiatek: She’s fast and strong; she can defend and attack. Swiatek won’t be able to tee off quite as often as she has been against other players, and she should see a few more her bomb ground strokes come back over the net.

Swiatek will surely be nervous. After the spring she has had, anything less than a title will feel like a letdown. And if she can’t dominate with her ground strokes, she may not be have a Plan B ready, because she hasn’t needed one in so long.

But even when she has shown some signs of nerves and impatience in her earlier matches, it hasn’t mattered much in the end. The commentators keep talking about how she’s having an off day, and she keeps winning 6-3, 6-2 or 6-2, 6-1. She’ll probably give up more games to Gauff, but she seems too far ahead of the pack to let anyone catch up to her right now. Winner: Swiatek

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