2023 French Open women’s final info, form, H2H, what they said, preview: Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Muchova

Shahida Jacobs
2023 French Open women's final Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Muchova
2023 French Open women's final Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Muchova

The 2023 French Open women’s final will have a three-time Grand Slam winner and the current world No 1 on one side of the net while a first-time major finalist will be on the other side, but the big question is whether or not the Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Muchova final will deliver on the day.

Defending champion Swiatek is appearing in her third Roland Garros final and the previous two matches were lopsided affairs as she defeated Sofia Kenin 6–4, 6–1 in 2020 while Coco Gauff was dispatched 6–1, 6–3 last year.

Muchova, meanwhile, will no doubt have that first-time nerves, but the Czech has already overcome a career-threatening injury and is now on the verge of winning the biggest trophy of her career.

Who will emerge victorious come Saturday afternoon in Paris?

Iga Swiatek

Age: 22
Nationality: Polish
World ranking: 1
Career-high ranking: 1
Career singles titles: 13
Grand Slam singles titles: 3
Career prize money: $16,854,913

Karolina Muchova

Age: 26
Nationality: Czech
World ranking: 43
Career-high ranking: 19
Career singles titles: 1
Grand Slam singles titles: 0
Career prize money: $4,205,445

Iga Swiatek’s path to the French Open final

The talk before Swiatek’s semi-final clash against Beatriz Haddad Maia was that the Pole hadn’t been tested so far at Roland Garros and the pundits had a point. The world No 1’s results up until then were a 6-4, 6-0 first-round win, 6-4, 6-0 in the second round, 6-0, 6-0 in the third round, a walkover in the third while leading 5-1, and 6-4, 6-2 victory in the quarter-final.

Haddad Maia tried her best to test Swiatek as she broke in the opening game of the match and again early in the second set, but the three-time Grand Slam winner eventually came away with a comfortable 6-2, 7-6 (8-6) win.

Karolina Muchova’s path to the French Open final

The unseeded Czech started with a bang as she took out eighth seed Maria Sakkari in the opening round, winning 7-6 (7-5), 7-5 before seeing off 2020 Roland Garros semi-finalist Nadia Podoroska in three sets after getting bagelled in the second set. The 27th seeded Irina-Camelia Begu and lucky loser Elina Avanesyan were beaten in straight sets.

She followed it up with 7-5, 6-2 win over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova – the 2021 runner-up in Paris – before winning a three-hour plus humdinger against second seed Aryna Sabalenka.

The scoreline of 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 7-5 fitting for a semi-final, but it doesn’t tell the full story as Muchova was 2-5 (30-40) down in the deciding set and ended up winning the final five games.

Iga Swiatek vs Karolina Muchova head-to-head

You have to go back to 2019 for the pair’s only previous meeting and the Czech won that encounter 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 against a 17-year-old Swiatek at the Prague Open.

Recent form

Last year Iga Swiatek went to Paris with a 26-0 unbeaten run and nine of those wins came on clay as she won the Stuttgart Open and Italian Open.

The Pole form has been a lot more erratic this year when compared to her 2022 campaign as she has won “only” two titles – Qatar and Stuttgart – while she also lost against Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina on clay. Swiatek was 28–6 before Roland Garros started while she has also struggled with injury.

Of course her record in Paris is impeccable as she has is 27–2 overall.

Karolina Muchova’s form has been patchy in 2023 as she had a 19-7 record heading into the French Open with her best performances a couple of quarter-final appearances.

She was 4-2 on clay ahead of the Paris Grand Slam as she lost in the second round at the Madrid Open and the round of 16 at the Italian Open.

And if you want her historical record in Paris, then it’s not the greatest as in her four previous appearances she failed to make it past the third round.

What they said

“I still feel like I know Karolina’s game anyway because I played many practices with her since 2019, and I also watch her actually more than most of the players. Just a coincidence, but it happened. And I really like her game, honestly. I really respect her, and she’s I feel like a player who can do anything, you know. She has great touch. She can also speed up the game.

“She plays with that kind of freedom in her movements. And she has a great technique. So I watched her matches and I feel like I know her game pretty well. But obviously on matches, it’s a little bit different and I’ll be ready no matter what.”

– Iga Swiatek

“I don’t think I will be the favourite. Yeah, it’s nice. I didn’t really even know about this statistic [5-0 vs. Top 3 players], if I say like that. It just shows me that I can play against them. I can compete, and obviously the matches are super close. Match ball down, you really never know if I win or lose, but it’s great to know that I have the chance to win and I win against the top players, and that for sure boosts my confidence.”

– Karolina Muchova

Conclusion

Iga Swiatek has lost only two of her 29 matches to date at Roland Garros with Simona Halep (2019 fourth round) and Maria Sakkari (2021 quarter-final) the only players to have beaten her in Paris.

In fact, the Pole has been ruthless at the clay-court Grand Slam over the five editions when she has appeared as her record in terms of sets stands at 53-6.

On paper, if Swiatek is at her peak then you expect her to hold aloft a third Coupe Suzanne Lenglen come Saturday afternoon in Paris.

However, Karolina Muchova has proven that she is no pushover when it comes to taking on the best as she proved against Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-final

The Czech also has a 5-0 record against top-three players as she beat world No 1 Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-final at the 2021 Australian Open, world No 2 Naomi Osaka at the 2021 Madrid Open, world No 3 Karolina Pliskova at Wimbledon 2019 and world No 3 Maria Sakkari at last year’s French Open.

Doing it in a Grand Slam final against one of the best in the world is a different kettle of fish though, just ask Kenin and Gauff.

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