World No 1 Iga Swiatek dismantled American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 to claim her second French Open title on Saturday and stretch her winning streak to 35 matches.
The Polish star's unbeaten run equals the achievement of Venus Williams in 2000 as the longest this century, and she has now won her past six tournaments.
Swiatek has emerged as the dominant figure in the women's game, with 23-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams out of action for nearly a year and three-time major winner Ash Barty announcing in March she would retire at the age of 25.
The 21-year-old needed only 68 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier to claim the victory and immediately celebrated in the players' box with her friends and family.
A disconsolate Gauff was left sitting on her seat in tears after a nervous performance, punctuated by 23 unforced errors and three double faults.
The 18-year-old American came up short in her bid to become the youngest Grand Slam singles champion since Maria Sharapova won Wimbledon in 2004.
Swiatek, only the 10th woman to win multiple French Opens in the Open era, lost just one set in the tournament - against China's Zheng Qinwen in the fourth round.
She has now won all three of her career meetings with Gauff, who was playing in her first major final.
Gauff will now turn her attentions to Sunday's doubles final, where she will face home favourites Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic alongside compatriot Jessica Pegula.
Swiatek improved her remarkable record in finals, having won her last nine on the WTA Tour.
Gauff looked nervous in the opening exchanges and a flurry of unforced errors handed Swiatek a break in the very first game.
The 18th seed found herself 3-0 and a double break down just 16 minutes into the match, as Swiatek's powerful backhand helped her win a lengthy third game on her fifth break point.
Gauff finally got on the board with a scrappy hold to the delight of the crowd, but she had dropped a set for the first time in the tournament just minutes later.
Swiatek was not playing her best, but a cross-court backhand winner brought up two set points and she took the second opportunity when Gauff fired wide.
The Pole gifted her opponent a potential route back into the match, making four unforced errors to throw away her serve in the first game of the second set.
Swiatek recomposed herself though as the mistakes continued to come from Gauff, breaking back to level at 2-2.
She made it five straight games to move within one of the title, losing only five points in the process.
Gauff dug deep to force Swiatek to serve for the trophy.
But the top seed did just that on her first match point, dropping to the red clay in celebration as Gauff sent a return flying long.
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Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
THE CLOWN OF GAZA
Director: Abdulrahman Sabbah
Starring: Alaa Meqdad
Rating: 4/5
Challenge Cup result:
1. UAE 3 faults
2. Ireland 9 faults
3. Brazil 11 faults
4. Spain 15 faults
5. Great Britain 17 faults
6. New Zealand 20 faults
7. Italy 26 faults
Earth under attack: Cosmic impacts throughout history
- 4.5 billion years ago: Mars-sized object smashes into the newly-formed Earth, creating debris that coalesces to form the Moon
- 66 million years ago: 10km-wide asteroid crashes into the Gulf of Mexico, wiping out over 70 per cent of living species – including the dinosaurs.
- 50,000 years ago: 50m-wide iron meteor crashes in Arizona with the violence of 10 megatonne hydrogen bomb, creating the famous 1.2km-wide Barringer Crater
- 1490: Meteor storm over Shansi Province, north-east China when large stones “fell like rain”, reportedly leading to thousands of deaths.
- 1908: 100-metre meteor from the Taurid Complex explodes near the Tunguska river in Siberia with the force of 1,000 Hiroshima-type bombs, devastating 2,000 square kilometres of forest.
- 1998: Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 breaks apart and crashes into Jupiter in series of impacts that would have annihilated life on Earth.
-2013: 10,000-tonne meteor burns up over the southern Urals region of Russia, releasing a pressure blast and flash that left over 1600 people injured.
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What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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