French Open: Top two Women in Tennis Sabalenka and Gauff clash in Paris
It will be the first time the world's top two players have met in a women's Grand Slam final since Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep to win the 2018 Australian Open.
As far as the purists are concerned, the best final that could be possibly predicted came to pass at the 2025 French Open.
It will be the first time the world's top two players have met in a women's Grand Slam final since Caroline Wozniacki defeated Simona Halep to win the 2018 Australian Open.
Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff faced off in the 2023 US Open final, when the Belarusian led by a set before imploding as the then-teenager Gauff claimed her maiden major title.
Their head-to-head record is locked at 5-5, although Sabalenka came out on top in their last meeting in the Madrid Open final last month.
The top seed will be playing in her first Slam final not on hard courts.
"In the past I don't know how many years, we've been able to develop my game so much, so I feel really comfortable on this surface and actually enjoy playing on clay," she said after ending Iga Swiatek's bid for a fourth successive Roland Garros triumph in the semifinals," she told Reuters.
"If I'll be able to get this trophy, it's just going to mean the world for us. I'm ready to go in that final and to fight, fight for every point and give everything I have to give to get the win."
Sabalenka snapped Swiatek's 26-match winning run at the French Open with a devastating deciding set that she took 6-0 in just 22 minutes.
But the 27-year-old knows it will not be easy against Gauff, who has always been comfortable on clay and has reached at least the quarterfinals in five successive appearances in the tournament.
"It was a big match (against Swiatek), and it felt like a final, but I know that the job is not done yet, and I have to go out there on Saturday, and I have to fight and I have to bring my best tennis," added three-time major champion Sabalenka.
"I have to work for that title, especially if it's going to be Coco."
Gauff is hoping to become only the third player to win two women's Grand Slam titles before the age of 22 since Maria Sharapova added the 2006 US Open to her famous 2004 Wimbledon win.
The others are Swiatek and former world No 1 Naomi Osaka.
It will be the 21-year-old's second Roland Garros final after she was left in tears following a heavy defeat by Swiatek in 2022.
Sabalenka will be playing in her seventh WTA final of the year, the most by any player at this stage of a season since Serena Williams, who beat Sharapova to win the title in Paris in 2013.
