French Open- Best Ladies Finals

As you all are aware that in the game of tennis there are four top tournaments in the world, which are known as Grand Slams, and they are the Australian Open which is played every year in January, French Open played in June, Wimbledon played in July and the USA Open played in September. Out of these four, the French Open is considered as toughest as it is played on clay court, which is very slow in nature and it really requires a strong body to play long rallies during the match.

In this blog, I am describing the top five final matches in the ladies’ section which are considered as the top 5 women’s singles finals.

5 Chris Evert vs Martina Navratilova 1986

This was their third successive meeting in the French Open final. Martina won the title in 1984, and Chris Evert came to the 1986 finals as defending champion. In this final also Chris prevailed with a gutsy comeback display, after being broken twice in the first set and Martina seemingly on top. Chris Evert prevailed and won 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 to claim her 18^th Grand Slam singles title, and her 7^th French Open title, an all-time record for women. In addition, Evert also set an Open Era record in the process as she won a Grand Slam for the 13^th consecutive year.

4 Aranxta Sanchez Vicario vs Steffi Graf 1989

Heading into the 1989 French Open, Steffi Graf was the overwhelming favourite. She was a two-time defending champion and had just completed the Golden Slam (all 4 grand slams and Olympic gold medal) the previous year. On top of that, she had earlier won the Australian Open in early 1989. Conversely, Aranxta was seeded seventh in the tournament and was making her Grand Slam final debut.

In the end, Aranxta was the winner, ending Graf’s Grand Slam winning spree at five. The match was a tightly contested affair, with the first set going into a tiebreak which Spaniard Aranxta won 8-6. Graf rallied to take the second set, but Aranxta was able to withstand the might of Graf and go on to win the third set at 7-5, claiming her maiden Grand Slam title. The German Stefi even had the opportunity to serve the match in the third set at 5-3 but lost the game to love and won only three more points in the match, losing the final set at 5-7. It was the first of Ananxta’s three French Open titles, which she also won in 1994 and 1998. This loss ended Steffi’s 41-match unbeaten run.

3 Monica Seles vs Steffi Graf 1992

The 1992 French Open final saw two long-time rivals do battle and produce an instant classic. The final saw two-time defending champion and top-seed Monica Seles face off against Steffi, who was looking to revenge her loss to Seles two years back. Both women were chasing their third title at the French Open.

Seles dominated the early stages of the contest, wrapping up the first set with two breaks of Steffi’s serve. However, Steffi was determined to get her hands on the winner’s trophy once more, as she mounted a comeback taking the second set at 6-3.

In the third set at 5-3 Seles had four Championship points but all of them were saved by Graf. Then, Seles lost her own service as Graf drew the score at 5-5. Seles eventually took the match in what was her sixth Championship point with the score line reading 6-2, 3-6, 10-8. The result meant that Seles is the only woman to win the French Open three times in a row, in the open era.

2 Steffi Graf vs Martina Hingis 1999

Martina Hingis was World number one heading into the final in Paris, having already won the 1999 Australian Open in both singles and doubles. In stark contrast, Graf had not won a major in three years, with her best finish in the 1998 US Open in the round of 16.

Martina got off to a perfect start, taking the first set at 6-4, and leading by a 2-0 margin in the second set. Despite losing the break, Hingis broke again to serve for the set and match. However, Graf fought back to level the match at 5-5. After that Graf dominated the proceedings. She won the title losing only two more games in the rest of the match, winning 4-6,7-5,6-2. Interestingly, Graf become the first player to defeat the top three ranked players in a Grand Slam tournament as she defeated World number two Lindsay Devenport, World number three Seles, and Hingis (World number 1) in the final.

It was Graf’s last appearance at the French Open, while Hingis missed out on the chance to complete a career Grand Slam (winning all four slams).

1 Jennifer Capriati vs Kim Clijsters 2001

The American Capriati was coming into the French Open final having just won the Australian Open a few months back. In the final, she was set to face young Kim Clijsters of Belgium, aged only 19, who was playing her first Grand Slam Final. The Belgian showed no fear and was aggressive in her display as she romped to the first set 6-1, breaking her opponent twice. Kim could not maintain momentum in the second set as a single break of serve handed Jennifer the set at 6-4 to level the match.

The third set, however, is a part of the French Open history. It holds the record for being the longest set in terms of the number of games played. The entire third set was nip and tuck, with Capriati having two opportunities to serve out the match in the 14^th and 20^th game before Clijsters would come roaring back. Eventually, on the third attempt, the 4^th seed Capriati was victorious winning the match 1-6, 6-4, 12-10. Ironically, it would be the last time in 13 years that another women’s final would be decided in three sets, when in 2014 Maria Sharapova beat Simona Halep 6-4, 6-7 (7-2), 6-2.

Waiting for your views on this blog.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

17^th December 2022