Czech Republic tennis player Barbora Krejcikova on Saturday fought an intense battle to become the first woman from her country to clinch the French Open singles title since Hana Mandlikova in 1981. Krejcikova defeated Russian tennis star Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 to lift her maiden singles major trophy.
Krejcikova started off well winning the first set quite easily. The world No 33 won six straight games in just half an hour to clinch the first set.
However, Pavlyuchenkova battled back to win the second set 6-2. The Russian tennis star had taken a medical timeout in the second set but made sure she didn't lose the momentum due to the break.
The intense third set started with both the players leaving no stone unturned in going ahead of each other. The two players were at 2-2 before Krejcikova went up a break 4-3 to move close to the title.
Pavlyuchenkova did make a comeback but wasn't able to stop Krejcikova from clinching the title as the Czech Republic player won the third set 6-4.
This is the sixth straight year Paris has crowned a first-time Grand Slam women's singles champion. The past 15 majors have witnessed nine different maiden Slam winners.
( With inputs from ANI )
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