Then came a bit of a shift: the second set all but flew by as Gauff met Sabalenka’s brute force and fiery bursts of emotion (at one point, she flung her racket at the net, only narrowly missing a ballkid) with total precision and cool. The last time that Gauff made it to the French Open final, she was flattened in straight sets by Iga Swiatek; this time, she proved indomitable.

After marching through the second set and quickly taking the lead in the third, the match’s final result soon seemed all but inevitable. Still, the crowd—which included Spike and Tonya Lewis Lee, Omar Sy, Dustin Hoffman, and Gauff’s adorable parents—leapt to their feet as Gauff won the championship point and immediately dropped to the clay.

After an emotional trophy ceremony that saw both players pay respect to each other’s grit; Sabalenka break hearts as she apologized to her team for not quite meeting the moment; and Gauff quote Tyler, the Creator as she shared that she didn’t initially believe that she could win the final, Gauff lingered on the court to pose for photographs (and shoot a little social content) with the Suzanne-Lenglen cup. One can only hope that we get as wonderfully dramatic a match at tomorrow’s men’s final, another fight between the world number one (Jannik Sinner) and number two (Carlos Alcaraz). Buckle up!