Iga Swiatek has become the first player to qualify for the 2024 WTA Finals, thanks to her fourth Roland Garros triumph this weekend.
The Polish star dominated the clay-court Grand Slam once again, beating first-time major finalist Jasmine Paolini in the championship match on Saturday 6-2, 6-1.
Swiatek joined tennis greats Monica Seles and Justine Henin in winning the French Open for three years in a row, doing so in 2022, 2023, and now 2024.
The victory also cemented her World No. 1 ranking for a good few months, with a gap of nearly 4000 points on second-placed Coco Gauff, who will ascend to World No. 2 on Monday.
Swiatek's dominance at Roland Garros is unlikely to end anytime soon and has been tipped to break the women's all-time record of seven titles by the woman who currently holds the record, Chris Evert.
The American tennis icon was in attendance to witness another Swiatek masterclass and was invited to the podium together with Martina Navratilova to present the winner's trophy. It was Swiatek's fifth Grand Slam and certainly not her last.
The bonus point for Swiatek is that she has successfully qualified for the 2024 WTA Finals, having surpassed the current cut-off mark of 7170 points in the race. She has compiled 7335 points this year, winning four WTA 1000 titles before coming to Paris.
She heads the list of most titles won by a WTA player this season with five. The 23-year-old has led the WTA year-end race in each of the last two years and looks on course to do so for the third season in a row. Only the eight best players will qualify for the season-ending championships, which will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While the decision to stage the flagship women's year-end tournament in the Gulf kingdom has been met with criticism, Swiatek has stated in the past that she'll be ready to play wherever the WTA decides.
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