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Iga Swiatek outlasts Karolina Muchova to win 3rd French Open

Iga Swiatek suddenly seemed lost in the French Open final. Her strokes were awry. Her confidence was gone. Her big early lead vanished, too.
She kept looking up into the stands, seeking guidance from her coach and her sports psychologist. So much was amiss right up until she was two games from defeat against unseeded Karo;ina Muchova on Saturday. And then, when she needed to most, Swiatek transformed back into, well, Swiatek. The No. 1 player in women’s tennis for more than a year. The defending champion at Roland Garros. Aggressive. Decisive. Full of clarity.
Swiatek overcame a second-set crisis and a third-set deficit to beat Muchova 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 and collect her third career championship at the French Open and fourth Grand Slam title. “I really love being here,” Swiatek said. “Basically, it’s my favorite place on tour.”
Looking comfortable at the outset, she raced to a 3-0 lead after just 10 minutes in Court Philippe Chatrier — taking 12 of the initial 15 points — and then was ahead 3-0 in the second set, too, before Muchova made things more intriguing.
Swiatek seemed out of sorts, unable to find the right strokes and unable to figure out why. Players are allowed to communicate with their coaches, but whatever Tomasz Wiktorowski — or sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz — might have been trying to tell Swiatek, either the message wasn’t getting through or it wasn’t working right away.
“I know much how much teams are important in our sport. Even though it’s an individual sport, I wouldn’t be here without my team,” Swiatek said afterward. “So, really, thank you, guys. Sorry for being such a pain in the…” — and she let the sentence end there.
Muchova grabbed five of six games on the way to pulling even at a set apiece. She carried that momentum into the deciding set, going ahead by a break twice. That’s when Swiatek returned to her usual brand of crisp, clean tennis, scurrying around the red clay with sublime defense and finding just the occasions to try for a winner. She claimed the last three games of the match.
When it ended on a double fault by Muchova, Swiatek dropped her racket, hunched forward and covered her face as she cried.
She has won the French Open twice in a row now, along with her 2020 title there and her triumph at the US Open this past September. That makes Swiatek, from Poland, the youngest woman with four Grand Slam trophies since Serena Williams was 20 when she got to that number at the 2002 US Open.
Swiatek, 22, is also only the third woman in the professional era to start 4-0 in major finals, joining Monica Seles and Naomi Osaka.
“This was so close, but yet so far,” said Muchova, who is ranked 43rd and was participating in a championship match at a Slam for the first time. “That happens when you play one of the best: Iga,” Muchova said. “So I want to congratulate you out loud once again and your team.”
The contest was filled with sections where Swiatek — the dominant player in women’s tennis for more than a year now — was better, and sections where Muchova was.
Every time one woman or the other seemed to be wresting control, every time one or the other raised her level enough that the end appeared in sight, the road curved in a different direction.
Swiatek’s brilliant beginning meant little. As did Muchova’s edges of 2-0 and 4-3 in the third set. One point in particular captured the essence of Muchova’s unwillingness to count herself out.
Serving for the second set at deuce while ahead 6-5, Muchova pushed to the net and ranged well to her right for a forehand volley. Swiatek then sent her scrambling to the left, and Muchova somehow slid and stretched for a backhand volley while losing her balance. Her racket fell, and so did she, placing her hands on the clay to brace herself.
The ball, somehow, landed in to take the point, and a moment later, when Swiatek’s backhand return sailed long, Muchova raised her right fist and let out a yell.
Suddenly, it was a set apiece. Suddenly, the outcome was entirely in doubt.
So then the question became: Might Muchova be able to fashion another dramatic comeback, the way she did in the semifinals Thursday? In that match, against No. 2 Aryna Sebelenka , the reigning Australian Open champion, Muchova faced a match point while trailing 5-2 in the third set and then completely reversed things, taking 20 of the last 24 points and each of the last five games to win.
That result made Muchova 5-0 for her career against foes in the top three. Any hope she had of making that 6-0 dissipated down the stretch.
Once again, Swiatek produced what it takes to win. Once again, she was holding a trophy — although she bobbled it during the postmatch ceremony, causing its top to fall.
(ESPN)
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Heat index, is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in Eastern and North-central provinces and Mullaitivu and Vavuniya districts

Warm Weather Advisory
Issued by the Natural Hazards Early Warning Centre of the Department of Meteorology at 3.30 p.m. 27 April 2025, valid for 28 April 2025
The public are warned that the Heat index, the temperature felt on human body is likely to increase up to ‘Caution level’ at some places in Eastern and North-central provinces and Mullaitivu and Vavuniya districts.
The Heat Index Forecast is calculated by using relative humidity and maximum temperature and this is the condition that is felt on your body. This is not the forecast of maximum temperature. It is generated by the Department of Meteorology for the next day period and prepared by using global numerical weather prediction model data.
Effect of the heat index on human body is mentioned in the above table and it is prepared on the advice of the Ministry of Health and Indigenous Medical Services.
ACTION REQUIRED
Job sites: Stay hydrated and takes breaks in the shade as often as possible.
Indoors: Check up on the elderly and the sick.
Vehicles: Never leave children unattended.
Outdoors: Limit strenuous outdoor activities, find shade and stay hydrated. Dress: Wear lightweight and white or light-colored clothing.
Note:
In addition, please refer to advisories issued by the Disaster Preparedness & Response Division, Ministry of Health in this regard as well. For further clarifications please contact 011-7446491.
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People have now started to think of themselves as Sri Lankans sans ethnic or religious divisions- PM

Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya stated that for the first time in history, mosques in Kandy had opened their doors to accommodate the needs of devotees visiting the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic and that people have now started to think of themselves as Sri Lankans beyond dividing into ethnicities and religions.
The Prime Minister made these remarks while addressing a public gathering held in the Paragahadeniya area in Kurunegala.
Prime Minister Dr. Harini Amarasuriya further stated:
“This country is undergoing a transformation we expected,so accordingly, we must operate in new ways. People are beginning to feel that we must work towards a new transformation. We can see this change even within our ministries. These days, sometimes when we visit ministries even after 5 PM, and ask if it is possible to have discussions, the officials are always open. Today, public officials are willing to work late into the night, until 9 or 10 PM. Officials have now started working without fear.
Remarkably, for the first time in history, Muslim mosques in Kandy remained open throughout the night to accommodate pilgrims visiting the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic. They even provided space for devotees to rest. There were no ethnic or religious tensions. What we saw was respect for other ethnicities and religions. This is happening because there is now a sense of a government that represents all Sri Lankan people, not just Sinhalese, Muslims, or Tamils”.
The event was attended by the candidates for the local government election including the residents of the area.
[Prime Minister’s Media Division]
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IPL 2025: Royal Challengers Bengaluru go No. 1 after Krunal’s all-round heroics

A sensational all-round display from Krunal Pandya led Royal Challengers Bengaluru to the top of the IPL 2025 table as they outbowled and outbatted Delhi Capitals in a tense clash on a tricky, two-paced surface at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
A strong display with the ball set things up, as RCB sent DC in and restricted them to 162 for 8, with Bhuveneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazelwood picking up five wickets between them, and Suvash Sharma and Krunal strangling with spin through the middle overs. The chase was never going to be straightforward, though, given the conditions and DC’s attack, and RCB duly slipped to 26 for 3 after four overs.
Krunal, though, hauled RCB out of the mire and put them in front, over the course of a 119-run fourth-wicket stand with Virat Kohli, who made his sixth half-century of the season, and his fourth in a chase.
The recovery came in two phases. By the 10-over mark, Kohli and Krunal had put on 40 in 36 balls, and neither batter was looking fluent. But Krunal found his hitting range, and took off. Having been on 17 off 21 balls at one stage, he hit 56 off his last 26 balls. Kohli fell for 51 off 47 with RCB needing 18 off 13. There was no late twist, though, as Tim David finished with a flurry of boundaries, sealing victory with nine balls remaining.
Abhishek Porel struck the ball sweetly at the start of DC’s innings to score 28 off 11 balls, and Tristan Stubbs made an innovative 34 off 18 at the finish, but DC’s other batters struggled, scoring just 96 off 92 balls between them.
Faf du Plesis, returning from a groin injury and playing his first game since April 10, and KL Rahul struggled for fluency in particular, scoring 22 off 26 and 41 off 39 respectively.
The surface was partly responsible for this, with the ball gripping and occasionally staying low too, and RCB’s bowling played its part too, with Suyash and Krunal especially suffocating through the middle overs, bowling at high pace into the pitch and keeping width to a minimum.
And DC suffered two crucial jolts.
First, just when Axzr Patel was beginning to look dangerous, having slogged Krunal for a six in the previous over, Hazlewood came back and bowled DC’s captain in the 14th. This took some pressure off Suyash and Krunal – who may not have relished bowling to the left-handed Axar – and they finished their quotas by conceding a combined 13 runs across the 15th and 16th overs, against Rahul and a new-to-the-crease Stubbs.
Then, when Bhuvneshwar dismissed Rahul in the 17th, DC sent in Ashutosh Sharma as their Impact Player. They had named a bowler-heavy XI despite batting first, with the hope that they could bring in the extra bowler if their top order enjoyed a good day. As it happened, they were forced to bring in a batter, and he was out third ball, bowled by a legcutter from Bhuvneshwar.
Stubbs and Vinrai Nigam then provided the spark that DC had sorely lacked up to then, using the V behind the wicket smartly to collect a combined 36 runs across the 18th and 19th overs. Bhuvneshwar, though, cut short the fireworks with a superb 20th over, dismissing Stubbs and only conceding six runs (one of them off a leg-bye) despite bowling with an extra fielder inside the 30-yard circle with RCB having run into an over-rate penalty.
Replacing Phil Salt, who was out with fever, Jacob Bethell played a short and exciting innings on IPL debut. He flicked Mitchell Starc for a six and a four off successive balls in the second over, before being done in by the slowness of the pitch, miscuing a pull off Axar to deep midwicket in the third over.
Despite the presence of the left-handed Bethell, Axar had bowled the first and the third overs. He ended up dismissing not one but two left-handers, with Devdutt Padikkal, RCB’s Impact Player, chopping on while attempting a cut two balls later.
Karun Nair had taken an excellent catch in the deep to send Bethell back, and he was soon in play once again when Kohli clipped one in his direction at midwicket and seemed to take off for a single before coming to an abrupt stop. Rajpat Patidar hared out of his crease at the other end, and it was too late by the time he turned back and dived, with Nair’s direct hit finding him well short.
The first part of RCB’s recovery wasn’t pretty. The pitch was still a tricky one for run-scoring, and one moment summed it up perfectly. A short ball from Nigam seemed ripe for pulling, but it lost so much pace off the pitch that it was on its way down by the time Kohli met it with his inside edge.
For all their lack of fluency, though, Kohli and Krunal were ensuring RCB had wickets at the back end, and at the halfway mark they needed 99 off 60 balls.
It was Krunal who switched gears, and he did it dramatically, whipping Dushmantha Chameera for a leg-side six in the 11th over and clearing the boundary twice off Mukesh Kumar in the 13th: the last of these hits, a length ball launched over long-off with a full extension of the arms, showed just how much Krunal had got to grips with the conditions.
And in the next over he showed he could do it against spin too, going over extra-cover off Kuldeep Yadav when he floated one into his arc.
DC’s last chance to get back in the game came in the 16th over, when Starc forced Krunal to miscue a pull with a sharp short ball angled across the left-hander from left-arm around. Running in from deep midwicket, Porel put down a sitter. Before this ball, RCB needed 40 off 25 balls.
By the time Chameera broke the partnership with a slower legcutter to Kohli in the 18th, DC were almost out of it. David then hurried RCB over the line, going 6, 4 (plus no-ball), 4, 4 as Mukesh’s attempted yorkers in the 19th over ended up as a succession of full-tosses and half-volleys.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 165 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Krunal Pandya 73*, Virat Kohli 51, Jacob Bethel 12, Tim David 19*; Axar Patel 2-19, Dushmantha Chameera 1-24) beat Delhi Capitals 162 for 8 in 20 overs (Abhishek Porel 28, Faf du Plesis 22, KL Rahul 41, Axar Patel 15, Tristan Stubbs 34, Vipraj Nigam 12; Bhuvneshwar Kumar 3-33, Yash Dayal 1-42, Josh Hazlewood 2-36, Krunal Pandya 1-28) by six wickets
[Cricinfo]
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