French Open 2021 Final: Barbora Krejcikova beats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to lift maiden Roland Garros title

French Open has a new women’s singles champion after Czech tennis star Barbora Krejcikova defeated her fellow first-time Roland Garros finalist Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 at Court Philippe-Chatrier on Saturday.

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Krejcikova was at her clinical best in the first set, bagging it 6-1 in just 30 minutes. She showed some serves as she was broken in the very game of the summit clash by Pavlyuchenkova. However, she broke back immediately and held her serve to take a 2-1. The rest of the set followed suit as she broke her Russian opponent two more times to bag the first set.

Twenty-nine-year-old Pavlyuchenkova, who failed to turn up in the first set, seemed to have found her feet in the second set as she saved a break point in the first game to play out her first service hold of the match. In the subsequent game, a cracking down-the-line forehand saw her break Krejcikova to inch ahead 2-0.

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Krejcikova, after winning six on the trot in the first, lost three consecutive games in the second before getting off the mark in game 4 with an impressive hold to 30. Pavlyuchenkova, soon after, raced to a 5-1 lead and was on set point before losing a flurry of points on the trot. She showed some signs of slowing down as she was seen holding on to her left leg, indicating a niggle. Krejcikova, with a ferocious backhand winner from the centre and a forehand crosscourt, broke the serve.

There was a small delay as Pavlyuchenkova received some medical treatment after her service game. It was later understood that she was struggling from a groin problem. With a heavily strapped leg, Pavlyuchenkova battled pain and limited movement to win a break point in the very next point game and force the decider by pocketing the second set 6-2.

After trading blows in the first two games, Krejcikova got ahead with a break point in game 3 after Pavlyuchenkova served a double fault on the final point. The two players then exchanged breaks before Krejcikova raced to a 5-2 lead.

Serving to stay in the match, Pavlyuchenkova played four near-perfect points and saved two championship points to stay alive in the match. Krejcikova, serving for the championship, had two match points, served a double fault on the first one, taking her tally to five in the match. However, she converted her final one as she bagged the fjnal 6-4.