Defending champion Swiatek defeats Muchova to win third French Open title

The 22-year-old Swiatek is just the third woman in the Open era to win each of her first four Grand Slam finals, the Pole adding to her 2020 and 2022 titles in Paris and last year's US Open triumph. 

Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka are the only other players to accomplish the feat.

Swiatek, the world number one from Poland, is also the youngest woman to claim back-to-back French Open titles since Monica Seles in the early 1990s. 

Justine Henin was the last woman to win successive Roland Garros crowns when she captured her third in a row and fourth in total 16 years ago.

Swiatek's latest coronation caps another dominant two weeks on the clay in Paris, where her record stands at 28 wins and two losses in five visits.

Muchova, at 43 in the world, was the fourth lowest ranked woman to reach the French Open final, her first championship match at a major.

Swiatek, then just 19, was ranked 54 when she lifted her first trophy -- three years after Jelena Ostapenko's shock triumph. Muchova's compatriot Renata Tomanova was runner-up in 1976.

However, the unseeded Czech had won all five matches in her career against players in the top three -- four of them at Grand Slams -- having stunned Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals.

On guard against an underdog with a habit of taking those down at the top, Swiatek quickly applied pressure on the 26-year-old Muchova.

A miscued forehand from Muchova gave the Pole two break points in the second game which she took with minimal fuss.

The top seed consolidated with a quick hold before Muchova got on the board in game four, drawing loud roars from the Court Philippe Chatrier crowd.

Muchova carved out a break opportunity to get back on serve but Swiatek snuffed it out in a protracted fifth game --