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What you must know about French Open champ Swiatek...

October 10, 2020 21:11 IST

Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning championship point during the women's singles final against Sofia Kenin of the United States at the French Open on Saturday.

IMAGE: Poland's Iga Swiatek celebrates after winning championship point during the women's singles final against Sofia Kenin of the United States at the French Open on Saturday. Photograph: Julian Finney/Getty Images

Iga Swiatek gave tennis a new Grand Slam champion. The 19-year-old Polish teenager won her country's first-ever Grand Slam singles title on Saturday, beating American fourth seed Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 to become the youngest women's French Open champion since 1992.

At 54, the second-lowest ranked women's French Open finalist in the modern era, she is the ninth first-time major champion in the past 14 Grand Slams.

Here's more about her life and career.

Age: 19

Nation: Poland

WTA ranking: 54 (Highest ranking: 48)

Seeding: Unseeded

Grand Slam titles: 1 (French Open 2020)

ROAD TO FINAL

First round: 15-Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) 6-1 6-2

Second round: Hsieh Su-wei (Taiwan) 6-1 6-4

Third round: Eugenie Bouchard (Canada) 6-3 6-2

Fourth round: 1-Simona Halep (Romania) 6-1 6-2

Quarter-finals: Martina Trevisan (Italy) 6-3 6-1

Semi-finals: Nadia Podoroska (Argentina) 6-2 6-1

EARLY LIFE

*Born in Warsaw. Her father Tomasz is a former Olympic rower, who competed in the men's quadruple sculls event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

*Started playing tennis in an attempt to emulate her older sister Agata, who competed briefly on the junior circuit.

*Swiatek helped Poland lift the Junior Fed Cup title in 2016 before winning Junior Wimbledon in 2018, the same year she secured the gold medal with Kaja Juvan in doubles at the Youth Olympics.

CAREER TO DATE

*She began her professional career on the ITF Circuit in 2016 and won all seven singles finals she contested over the next two years.

*Made her first Grand Slam main draw appearance at the 2019 Australian Open and defeated Ana Bogdan in the opening round before losing to Camila Giorgi.

*Had her breakthrough later that year, reaching her first WTA final at the Ladies Open in Lugano. Despite losing to Polona Hercog, she entered the top 100 for the first time.

*Advanced to the fourth round of the 2019 French Open in just her second major tournament, losing to defending champion Simona Halep.

*Defeated American Kenin on Saturday to become the youngest women's French Open champion since Monica Seles in 1992.