American star Coco Gauff and her surprise partner Katerina Siniakova conquered the French Open women’s doubles title on Sunday, defeating the Italian duo of Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini.

This victory marked a bittersweet end to the tournament for Gauff. While celebrating her first Grand Slam doubles title, it came after a heartbreaking singles semi-final loss to the dominant Iga Swiatek, who secured her fourth French Open title on Saturday.

For Paolini, Sunday’s defeat was a double dose of disappointment, having fallen to Swiatek in the singles final the day before.

Coco Gauff & Siniakova win the Roland Garros Women’s Doubles title.

At 20 years old, this is Coco’s first Grand Slam doubles title.

For Katerina, it’s her 8th.

Their very first tournament playing together.

Beautiful moment for these two. ❤️

pic.twitter.com/Q3m4PvWIBm

— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) June 9, 2024

The win was even more unexpected considering the duo’s late formation. Gauff’s usual partner, Jessica Pegula, withdrew from the tournament just days before the start. Siniakova stepped in, leading to a “very last-minute” pairing, as Gauff acknowledged:

“Thank you Katerina for playing with me, we decided to do it two days before the tournament started,” Gauff said, a doubles finalist at the 2022 French Open. “It was very last-minute, I wasn’t planning on playing doubles, so thank you for asking me.”

Despite the short notice, their teamwork proved successful. Siniakova, a seasoned doubles champion with eight Grand Slam titles already under her belt, guided Gauff to victory. The American secured her first major doubles title to add to her US Open singles championship from last year.

This win offers a silver lining for Gauff after her emotional exit in the singles competition. Both players will now look to build on this success in future tournaments.