Coco Gauff battles past Aryna Sabalenka to win first Roland Garros title, second Grand Slam crown

Coco Gauff battled past Aryna Sabalenka on Saturday, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4, for her first Roland Garros title, and her second Grand Slam title.

She captured her first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2023, where she also came from a set down to beat Sabalenka in the final.

"I think the first one was maybe more emotional, but I think this one was just harder, because you win one and you just don't want to get satisfied with just that one. So it was very difficult to match up," Gauff said.

"And I also felt like this is one I really wanted, because I do think this was one of the tournaments that, when I was younger, I felt that I had the best shot of winning. So I just felt like if I went through my career and didn't get at least one of these, I would feel regrets and stuff.

"Today, playing Aryna, I was just, like, 'I just gotta go for it and try my best to get through the match.' Yeah, that's what I did."

The 21-year-old is the first American to conquer Roland Garros since Serena Williams in 2015, and the youngest American to do it since 2002, when Williams won the first of her three career titles in Paris.

Twenty minutes into the final, it looked like Sabalenka was going to run away with it, serving up a double break at 4-1, 40-0, ripping winners left and right and taking her opponent completely out of the equation.

But that's when Gauff came alive, winning the next 12 points in a row to get one of the breaks back, hold and bring up triple break point to get back on serve—and she eventually did even it up at 4-all.

Sabalenka broke again to serve for the set at 5-4, and then—after getting broken back—broke again to serve for the second set at 6-5. Gauff broke her back again to send the first set into a tie-break and jumped out to a 4-1 lead, but Sabalenka was too resilient, winning six of the next seven points to clinch the marathon 80-minute first set.

But despite dropping that first set, the momentum was in Gauff's corner.

The American rolled through the second set in just 33 minutes, then jumped out to an early 3-1 lead in the decider. Sabalenka caught back up to 3-all, but Gauff then broke her one last time, and served out the championship a few games later. She then dropped to the court in victory, taking in a moment she's dreamed about for years:

On a windy day in Paris, Sabalenka finished the match with 37 winners to almost twice as many unforced errors, 70—meanwhile, a rock solid Gauff had an even 30 winners to 30 unforced errors.

Perhaps the most impressive stat from the final? Gauff made only six unforced errors in the entire 45-minute third set.

"It was super tough when I walked on the court and felt the wind, because we warmed up with the roof closed," the American said in her post-match press conference. "I was like, 'This is going to be a tough day.' And I knew it was just going to be about willpower and mental.

"Yeah, it really came down to the last few points, but overall I'm just really happy with the fight that I managed today. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done, and that's all that matters."

She now leads her career head-to-head against Sabalenka, 6-5, and also leads the world No. 1 on clay, 2-1, and at majors, 2-1.

Despite the final result in Paris, Sabalenka and Gauff will remain at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, when the new WTA rankings come out Monday.