Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova and Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova faced each other at Court Philippe-Chatrier for the women’s singles title at the French Open 2021 final. It was their first appearance in a Grand Slam final, and Krejcikova won the match 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, and her first-ever Grand Slam title.
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With the clock ticking just two minutes shy of the two-hour mark, Krejcikova became only the second women’s player from the Czech Republic to win the Roland Garros. In the third set, she found the service break in the third game but had her service broken in the following game. It was in the seventh game that she found the decisive break to take a 4-3 lead. From that point, she carried the set without dropping her service to eventually win it by 6-4.
Pavlyuchenkova won the second set 6-2 to take it to the deciding set. She started the set by winning the first game with her first service hold of the match. She backed it up with a break in the next game. She had to call physios after the seventh game, after which she played with a taped left thigh. She eventually wrapped up the set by getting the break in the last game as well.
In the first set, Pavlyuchenkova had a promising start, winning the first game by breaking Krejcikova’s serve. But since then, the set only went one way as the Czech player won six games in a row, and took the set in 32 minutes.
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Match statistics:
(Krejcikova-Pavlyuchenkova)
Aces: 2-2
Double faults: 5-1
Break points won: 6/14 – 5/12
Unforced errors: 31-16
Total points won: 85-75
Pavlyuchenkova won against Slovenia’s Tamara Zidanesek in the quarterfinal 7-5, 6-3. She also beat the third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka on the way to the final.
Krejcikova won against Greece’s Maria Sakkari 7-5, 4-6, 9-7 in the semifinal. She has also sealed a spot in the women’s doubles final along with her partner Katerina Siniakova.
