PARIS – As an obvious outsider to the Grand Slam coup: Barbora Krejkova dramatically won the French Open. On Saturday, the 25-year-old won a tough final 6:1, 2:6, 6:4 against Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, thus winning as the first Czech since Hana Mandlikova in 1981 – at the time she was still under the flag of Czechoslovakia.

Krejcikova even has a rare “double” chance. The athlete from Brno, who learned a lot from the late Czech icon Jana Novotna, is also in the doubles final and could win both competitions for the first time since Marie Pierce in 2000.

With Krejcikova, a new player was crowned the main winner for the sixth consecutive year in Paris. She is the third unranked player to break into the tournament and receives a prize money of 1.4 million euros, and Pavlyuchenkova receives 750,000 euros.

Defending champion Iga Swiatek of Poland had already failed in the quarter-finals. In Sunday’s men’s final (3pm/Eurosport and ServusTV), world number one Novak Djokovic and Stefanos Tsitsipas face world number one winner Alexander Zverev of Germany.

It was difficult to determine a clear candidate for the final

Pavlyuchenkova vs. Krejcikova – No expert will come up with the surprise final before the competition. They made their way through a women’s competition in Paris, which was turbulent from the start. The boycott of the press and the subsequent withdrawal of four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka caused a real jolt at first.

Smaller bounce aftershocks followed as more and more favorites like Ashleigh Barty (Australia) or Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) fell. The three German women around Angelique Kerber had already packed their stuff after the first round – for the first time since 1958, no DTB player had made it to the second round. Other players played themselves in focus.

It was difficult to determine a clear candidate for the final between the world rankings 32 of the Russian Samara and her opponent, who was one place lower. “Today it’s all about today’s look. Pavlyuchenkova has definitely gained more experience in the last 13 or 14 years,” Eurosport national coach Barbara Rittner said before serving the final, “the Russian was really easy, but that ended quickly on the pitch.” .

Krejcikova quickly took on the role of coach in the well-distributed rallies and Pavlyuchenkova had no solution at first – after 32 minutes, the pass went to the Czechs. But the picture changed after that. Now Pavlyuchenkova became more courageous, quickly went to victory and tied the camel.

In the third round, nerves played an increasingly important role – Krizhikova remained calm and celebrated the biggest victory of her career.