Welcome back to Crosscourt Slice – where the bounce is sharp and the commentary sharper. For part three in our series, we’re going to be examining two stalwarts of the tennis community, and give a spotlight to an up-and-coming youngster. Stay tuned as we prepare to walk onto the court!

Coco Gauff Reigns Supreme

Entering Roland Garros, Coco was as dominant on clay as one could ask for. She didn’t fail to make a QF during the clay swing, and reached the finals of the Madrid Open, Rome Open, and the French Open. During that stretch, she defeated six Top 10 opponents, most notably Iga Swiatek in Madrid and Aryna Sabalenka at Roland Garros. Heading into the final, Coco and Sabalenka had only played twice on clay, with Sabalenka prevailing in straight sets in their previous meeting.

At the start of the first set, Coco was down 1-3, and later on 2-4. Undeterred, she broke Sabalenka’s serve at 3-4, and 4-5 to even everything up. At 5-6, 40-30, Sabalenka hit a serve out wide to pull Coco off the court, which Coco managed to flick back over the net. She scrambled all over the court, clinching the break point with a running backhand down the line off of an overhead smash from Sabalenka.

While she did eventually lose the tiebreak 6⁵-7, Coco reset and dismantled Sabalenka’s game using her trademark defensive skills, acute angles, varied spins, and changes of pace. She prevailed 6⁵-7, 6-2, 6-4 to claim her maiden French Open crown, and hand Sabalenka her second straight Grand Slam final loss to an American woman.

Taylor Townsend: The Resilient Return

While the score showed her losing the match, the scoreboard didn’t tell the whole story. Taylor suffered a concussion earlier in the year while playing at the Miami Open. She subsequently pulled out of Madrid and Rome, meaning she had no time to prepare for the European clay swing other than French Open qualifying.

Her first-round match against Elisabetta Cocciaretto ended in a 3-6, 2-6 loss, but the grit she showed making it to Paris in the first place deserves applause. And she wasn’t done. In women’s doubles, Townsend and partner Katerina Siniakova powered their way to the quarterfinals as the top seeds. In mixed doubles, she teamed up with fellow American Evan King to reach the final as the No. 4 seeds (don’t worry – we’ll have a feature on him soon).

Victoria Mboko, New Kid On The Block

If you haven’t heard of Victoria Mboko yet, it’s time to get familiar. The 18-year-old Canadian made her main-draw debut at Roland Garros and went on a bold run to the third round, before falling to No. 8 seed Qinwen Zheng. She battled hard, but her inexperience on big stages caught up to her. Don’t let that loss fool you though – Mboko’s clay résumé is already turning heads.

She boasts a 42-6 record across all levels this year, including five tournament titles, with four straight wins to start the season. Smooth footwork, confident shot selection, and court maturity beyond her years make her one of the most exciting prospects on the WTA Tour.

Looking Ahead

That’s the end of this chapter of our 2025 French Open Recap Series, but don’t hang up your shoes just yet – we’ve still got a few more stories to serve up before we switch surfaces and head to the grass of Wimbledon. With that, I’ll see you across the net!