(Reuters) – Factbox on Iga Swiatek, who beat Coco Gauff 6-1 6-3 to win her second Grand Slam title at the French Open on Saturday.
Age: 21
Nation: Poland
WTA ranking: 1
Seeding: 1
Grand Slam titles: 2 (French Open 2020, 2022)
ROAD TO FINAL
First round: Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine) 6-2 6-0
Second round: Alison Riske (United States) 6-0 6-2
Third round: Danka Kovinic (Montenegro) 6-3 7-5
Fourth round: Zheng Qinwen (China) 6-7(5) 6-0 6-2
Quarter-finals: 11-Jessica Pegula (United States) 6-3 6-2
Semi-finals: 20-Daria Kasatkina (Russia) 6-2 6-1
EARLY LIFE
* Born in Warsaw. Her father Tomasz is a former Olympic rower, who competed in the men’s quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.
* Swiatek started playing tennis in an attempt to emulate her older sister, who competed briefly on the junior circuit.
* Swiatek helped Poland lift the Junior Fed Cup title in 2016 before winning Junior Wimbledon in 2018, the same year she secured the gold medal with Kaja Juvan in doubles at the Youth Olympics.
CAREER TO DATE
* Began her professional career on the ITF Circuit in 2016 and won all seven singles finals she contested over the next two years.
* Made her first Grand Slam main draw appearance at the 2019 Australian Open and defeated Ana Bogdan in the opening round before losing to Camila Giorgi.
* Had her breakthrough later that year, reaching her first WTA final at the Ladies Open in Lugano. Despite losing to Polona Hercog, Swiatek entered the top 100 for the first time.
* Advanced to the fourth round of the 2019 French Open in just her second major tournament, losing to defending champion Simona Halep.
* Defeated Sofia Kenin in the 2020 French Open final to become the youngest women’s Roland Garros champion since Monica Seles in 1992. She did not drop a set throughout the claycourt major.
* Won her first WTA 1000 title at the 2021 Italian Open in Rome and broke into the top 10 for the first time, finishing the year as world number four. She was also the only player to reach the second week at all four Grand Slams in 2021.
* Rose to world number one in April 2022 after the retirement of erstwhile top-ranked player Ash Barty.
* Won five straight WTA titles – Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome – before defeating Gauff on Saturday to claim her second French Open title and extend her winning run to 35 matches.
(Reporting by Hritika Sharma and Manasi Pathak in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Graff)
