Coco Gauff won her first Grand Slam doubles title by teaming with Katerina Siniakova for the French Open trophy on Sunday.
Gauff, a 20-year-old American who won the U.S. Open singles title last year, and Siniakova, who is from the Czech Republic, defeated Italians Jasmine Paolini and Sara Errani 7-6 (5), 6-3 on Court Philippe Chatrier.
It was Gauff’s third women’s doubles final after losing championship matches at Roland Garros in 2022 and the U.S. Open in 2021.
Gauff and Siniakova both kissed the Coupe Simone Mathieu – the winners’ trophy.
‘Third time´s a charm. Thank you, Katerina, for playing with me. We decided two days before the tournament to play together,’ Gauff said. ‘Thank you to the fans. I know 11:30 Sunday morning is early for most people. It´s early for me.’
Paolini was also the runner-up in the singles final at Roland Garros to four-time champion Iga Swiatek on Saturday. Siwatek beat Gauff in the singles semifinal.
‘The last two weeks were very nice, very emotional,’ Paolini said. ‘I have a lot of memories. I can´t wait to be back.’
Siniakova owns a career Slam in women’s doubles alongside partner Barbora Krejcikova and has won eight majors – including the French Open in 2018 and 2021.
Errani also owns a career Slam in doubles alongside her former partner Roberta Vinci. The Italian pair won the French Open title in 2012 – the year Errani lost the singles final.
‘It´s really special to be in this court again. I don´t know how many more years I have to play. But it´s always special to play these kinds of matches,’ the 37-year-old Errani said. ‘It will be special to play the Olympics here in this place. So I´ll see you in one month.’
Paolini was playing in her first final in women’s doubles.
Errani´s serve was broken twice in the first set, and Paolini stayed on the baseline to compensate in the 11th game. The tactic worked as Errani held serve.
Gauff and Siniakova took the first set when Errani´s volley at the net went long and raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set, with Paolini 0-30 down on her serve.
The Italians fought back to 4-3 with a service game to follow, but Errani’s serve was broken again and their momentum was lost.
Gauff’s doubles win comes in the heels of her emotional semifinal loss that saw her wiping tears away on the court.
The argument on court with umpire Aurelie Tourte left Gauff wiping away tears. ‘He called it and then I hit it. I’m a thousand per cent sure,’ said the American.
‘For me it did not affect your shot,’ replied Tourte.
‘If he called it before I hit it, I stop my reaction. I didn’t even finish my follow-through. He called it before I hit it. Will you ask him?’
‘No, we cannot ask him.’
The crowd were booing enthusiastically at this point – a Pavlovian reaction from the fans here whenever any incident occurs.
‘They’re booing because you’re wrong,’ said Gauff.
‘For me it did not affect the shot.’
‘You’re wrong. It’s the second time that happened. You should be ashamed. It’s a grand slam semi-final, know the rules of the game.’
