Coco Gauff secures French Open title with epic comeback win over Aryna Sabalenka

Coco Gauff has landed the second Grand Slam singles trophy of her career at the age of 21 (Picture: Getty)

Coco Gauff has won the French Open women’s singles title for the first time after an epic battle with Aryna Sabalenka in Saturday’s final.

Gauff headed into Roland-Garros as the No.2 seed and came from behind against the world No.1 to land her second Grand Slam singles trophy.

It is the first major singles title the American star has secured on clay, with her only previous triumph on home soil at the 2023 US Open.

Her French Open singles trophy comes one year after she clinched the Roland-Garros doubles title with Czech partner Katerina Siniakova.

Gauff, 21, defeated Sabalenka 6-7 6-2 6-4 in the final – but it was the Belarusian, 27, who enjoyed the better start on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Sabalenka broke Gauff to love in game three – and she made it a double break in game five with a stunning return off the second serve.

That saw Sabalenka go 4-1 up but Gauff came roaring back with a break and hold of serve reducing her opponent’s lead back down to one game.

Aryna Sabalenka made 70 unforced errors during Saturday’s final (Picture: Getty)

The eighth game of the first set turned into somewhat of a marathon as Sabalenka saved four break points – but Gauff finally got the job done to secure her own double break – and level things up at 4-4 on the red dirt.

More drama followed in game nine as Sabalenka secured her third break of the match to swing the momentum back in her favour – only to miss two set points in game 10 – and hand Gauff the opportunity to break her back.

Gauff couldn’t convert the first four break points but made no mistake with the fifth to once again level up the women’s singles final at 5-5.

The topsy-turvy showdown continued as Sabalenka and Gauff broke each other yet again to make it 6-6 and force a tie-break, with the world No.1 losing the first three points before eventually taking the first set 7-6 (7-5).

Gauff needed to produce a comeback in the second set to force a possible decider and got off to a flier with an impressive double break to lead 4-1.

Gauff’s first break of the second set was secured with a neat passing shot and her second, in game five, came after a brilliant backhand return winner.

Sabalenka broke back but Gauff instantly responded with a break of her own – her seventh of the match – to lead 5-2 in the second set of the final.

Gauff then held to love to take the second set 6-2, meaning the two players would battle it out in a third-set decider.

At 3-3, Sabalenka registered her 61st unforced error of the day, remarkably the highest tally in a women’s singles match at Roland-Garros this year, as she eventually went on to make it 70.

The American then secured a break by whipping a beautiful backhand past her opponent to lead 4-3.

Gauff missed her first match point in game 10 of the third set but got over the line with her second opportunity to win the final 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-4.

More to follow…