French Open 25 Finals
After two weeks of high profile, high intensity tennis we are now right at the very end of the French Open, with only the finals left to be played. The Women’s final will take place on Saturday with the Men’s event on Sunday, as is the way with Grand Slam events.
The weather has largely cooperated this time around and the pinnacle of the clay court season has come around quickly and we are set for a great final couple of showdowns. Following the conclusion of Roland Garros, attention will switch to the grass court season which will then build towards Wimbledon, which will take place over the first two weeks of July.
If we take a quick look at the route to the final, firstly with the women’s draw. The top seeds going into the event were Aryna Sabalenka, followed by Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. There were no real surprises on the top side of the draw with Aryna Sabalenka meeting Iga Swiatek in the semi-final, two of the more successful players over recent years. On the other side of the draw, a surprise was local favourite Lois Boisson, who was ranked 361, became the first French woman to reach the quarter-final stage since 2017 and the lowest ranked quarter-finalist since 1985. She played Coco Gauff in the second semi-final
On the men’s side, one semi-final contained Carlos Alcaraz and Italian Lorenzo Musetti whereas on the other side of the draw, there was a surprise in the shape of Alexander Bublik, who became the first Kazakhstani player to reach a major singles quarter-final. Richard Gasquet used this tournament to bow out of the professional game, the former number seven lost in the second round to Jannik Sinner. The top three seeds all made it to the quarte-final stage but there were surprisingly early exits for the likes of Taylor Fritz, Daniil Medvedev and Alex de Minaur.
Women’s Final
Aryna Sabalenka vs Coco Gauff – Saturday 7th June
The women’s final will be a rematch of the 2023 US Open final and not entirely unexpected as the world number one will take on the world number 2, Aryna Sabalenka took the tough route to reach her first Grand Slam final outside of the hardcourts as she had to get better of four time champion Iga Swiatek in the previous round. Sabalenka’s win in three sets over the Polish player, meant that Swiatek suffered her first loss in 26 matches at Roland Garros. Sabalenka’s recent overall success meant it was only a matter of time before she managed to get to grips with the clay surface and this year she certainly managed to do so. She has a poor record in claycourt finals though, only winning three of the 10 that she has played in. Overall though, this is her fourteenth final since October 2024, a very impressive record indeed, although she did lose the last final she appeared in, to Madison Keys. A win for Sabalenka would guarantee her fourth Grand Slam trophy.
Coco Gauff is searching for her second Grand Slam title and managed to break the hearts of French fans when she ended the fairytale run over French wildcard player Lois Boisson in straight sets in the semi-final. This will be her second Roland Garros final and she will be hoping for a good performance against the world number one but she also has limited success on clay courts, only having one title to her name, back in Parma in 2021. Gauff became the youngest player to reach the finals in Madrid, Rome and Paris in the same year but faced a few tough battles along the way, none more so than against fellow American Madison Keys. She lost her first Grand Slam final appearance in Paris in 2022, against Iga Swiatek, so will be desperate to go one step further this time.
Sabalenka is favourite to win this and there is a good chance that this match will go to a deciding set, as have half of their previous meetings.
Men’s Final
Jannik Sinner vs Carlos Alcaraz – Sunday 8th June
The men’s final will be contested by the top two players in the world as Jannik Sinner was able to get the better of Novak Djokovic in straight sets after Carlos Alcaraz cruised past Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who was forced to retire in his semi-final. Sinner’s semi-final felt like a changing of the guard as legendary Novak Djokovic was unable to stop Sinner from steamrolling into the final, with his bid for a 25th major title ending in three sets. Since losing last year’s Wimbledon quarter-final to Medvedev, Sinner has only lost one of the fifty matches he has played against everyone except Alcaraz, whom he lost to twice in that same time period. These two players have been battling it out since the juniors and it is the Spaniard who has the upper hand since they have turned pro, with a record of 7-4. Sinner has reached this final without dropping a single set, but he will be well aware that the final will be his toughest test and he will do well to remember the lessons learnt from last year, when Alcaraz beat him in the semi-finals of this competition after the match went to five sets.
Carlos Alcaraz will go into this match as the favourite, albeit only slightly. He has had an interesting year and perhaps lacked the consistency of Sinner. He is more temperamental and volatile but he is searching for his fifth Grand Slam title, having only just turned 22. Surprisingly, this is the first time that the two have met in a Grand Slam final, but it surely won’t be the last. In the recent Italian Open, Alcaraz overpowered Sinner to manage a straight sets win in the latter’s home country, so he certainly knows what it takes to beat him. Another tick in the Alcaraz box is that he is meant to favour clay more and he certainly had the easier run to the final of the two players.
Given the history between these two, it is unlikely that it will be a straight sets win for either player so we might be set for another classic match that lives long in the memory of tennis fans.
Last Updated: 07.06.2025
