French Open 2021: Women's Final Winner, Score and Twitter Reaction

After years of dominating the Grand Slam doubles circuit, Barbora Krejcikova broke through for her first major women’s singles title on Saturday. 

The 25-year-old Czech player defeated No. 31 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to win the 2021 French Open crown. 

Krejcikova secured the title on her fourth championship point of the third set. The final shot of the match from Pavlyuchenkova went out and that allowed Krejcikova to win the match on serve. 

Saturday’s victory completed an incredible rise to prominence in the singles game for Krejcikova, who was ranked outside the top 100 just a year ago.

Krejcikova won the title in her fifth main draw appearance in singles at a major. According to SportsCenter, that is the third-fewest total for a women’s Grand Slam champion: 

The unseeded champion had not advanced past the fourth round in a Grand Slam singles draw in her career before this year’s French Open. 

Krejcikova became the sixth consecutive first-time Grand Slam winner to capture the French Open women’s title. Jelena Ostapenko in 2017 and Iga Swiatek in 2020 were also unseeded in the draw

New York Times tennis correspondent Christopher Clarey outlined how rare unseeded players winning the title has been over the tournament’s history: 

Krejcikova’s run to the Paris crown is even more remarkable when you consider she just made her debut inside the top 100 of the WTA rankings in the last year, as WTA Insider noted: 

The Czech champion is currently on a 12-match winning streak on the singles side. She captured the title in Strasbourg, France prior to Paris. 

Saturday’s French Open title is the latest addition to Krejcikova’s trophy case from the doubles draws she has won over the years. Tennis analyst Jon Wertheim pondered if the Grand Slam singles title would give Krejcikova a Hall of Fame resume: 

Krejcikova won the 2018 French Open and 2018 Wimbledon women’s doubles titles and has three straight Australian Open mixed doubles wins. 

Tennis Channel’s Steve Weissman pointed out that Krejcikova is the fourth active player to win a Grand Slam title in all three disciplines. Serena and Venus Williams and Samantha Stosur are the others. 

Krejcikova’s title was dedicated to her mentor Jana Novotna, who passed away in 2017. The 25-year-old expressed what Novotna told her prior to her death, per WTA Insider: 

Krejcikova is the 10th woman since 2017 to win her first Grand Slam title. She will have much more attention paid in her direction during Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. Wimbledon begins on June 28.