Gauff And Sabalenka Face Off In French Open Final

French Open 2025 - women's singles final

Venue: Roland Garros Time: 14:00 BST Dates: 25 May-8 June

Coverage: Live power commentary connected 5 Live Sport and BBC Sounds, positive unrecorded matter commentary connected nan BBC Sport website and app

For nan first clip successful 7 years, nan champion 2 women's players successful nan world will meet successful a Grand Slam last erstwhile Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff look disconnected astatine nan French Open.

A caller women's singles champion will beryllium crowned either way, pinch world number 1 Sabalenka seeking a 4th awesome singles title and second-ranked Gauff a second.

Gauff, nan US Open champion successful 2023, vanished runner-up successful Paris 3 years ago, while two-time Australian Open victor and past year's New York champion Sabalenka is successful a first Roland Garros final.

The brace person 5 wins apiece from 10 erstwhile meetings earlier going head-to-head connected Court Philippe Chatrier, wherever nan victor will return location 2.5m euros (£2.1m) and 2,000 ranking points.

Sabalenka and Gauff overcame 2 very different challenges successful their respective semi-finals.

Underlining her position arsenic title favourite, Sabalenka ended four-time champion Iga Swiatek's 26-match tally pinch an awesome three-set victory.

Gauff, meanwhile, was up against a partisan crowd but efficiently ended French wildcard Lois Boisson's fairytale tally successful consecutive sets.

Sabalenka continues to show singular consistency astatine nan sport's highest level, pinch this her 3rd successive awesome singles final.

The 27-year-old is nan first female to execute that feat since nan awesome Serena Williams 9 years ago.

Sabalenka has competed successful 10 tournaments this year, reaching 7 finals, and she leads nan WTA Tour pinch 40 wins successful 46 matches.

Gauff, meanwhile, continues to look arsenic a unit to beryllium reckoned pinch connected clay.

The 21-year-old, bidding for her first title of nan season, is nan youngest female to scope nan finals astatine Madrid, Rome and nan French Open successful nan aforesaid year.

With her tally to nan Roland Garros final, she has besides go nan youngest subordinate to amass 70 wins astatine Grand Slam tournaments since Maria Sharapova successful 2007.

There is thing to divided Sabalenka and Gauff successful nan wide head-to-head record.

They each person 1 triumph astatine nan majors, pinch Gauff defeating Sabalenka successful nan 2023 US Open last earlier Sabalenka took revenge successful their Australian Open semi-final successful 2024.

Both person a triumph each connected clay, pinch Gauff prevailing successful nan Italian Open 4th information successful 2021 and Sabalenka claiming a straight-set triumph successful their astir caller gathering successful nan Madrid final.

That triumph successful May possibly gives Sabalenka a flimsy separator successful Paris, fixed she has won 3 of their past 4 meetings.

But pinch half of their encounters going nan region - and some players losing conscionable 1 group successful their six matches truthful acold - expectations are precocious for Saturday's showpiece.

Known for her sadistic hitting, Sabalenka has been typecast arsenic a hard-court master passim her career, pinch each 3 of her awesome singles titles won connected that surface.

But she is ever adapting her game. Against Swiatek, she kept nan cardinal points short and stifled nan clay-court expert's crippled pinch devastating accuracy.

Asked really it would consciousness to triumph nan French Open, Sabalenka said: "It's going to mean everything to maine and my team.

"Almost [my] full life I've been told [clay] is not my point and past I didn't person immoderate confidence.

"If I'll beryllium capable to get this trophy, it's going to mean nan world for us."

Gauff knows what to expect from Sabalenka - but overcoming that situation is simply a different matter.

She will person to beryllium astatine her champion defensively to withstand Sabalenka's powerfulness and effort to tie her into longer rallies.

Holding her service and keeping double faults to a minimum will beryllium cardinal to keeping unit connected Sabalenka and proviso a level for creating opportunities to build connected her tournament-leading tally of converted break points (40).

"She's going to travel retired aggressive, she's going to travel retired swinging," Gauff said.

"I deliberation I conscionable person to expect that and do my champion to benignant of antagonistic that.

"Anything tin hap connected Saturday. I'm looking guardant to it, and I'm gladsome to beryllium going up against a world number one, too."

Later connected Saturday, British brace Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski title nan French Open men's doubles last against Spain's Marcel Granollers and Argentina's Horacio Zeballos.