France, June 7 -- Second seed Coco Gauff won her first French Open title on Saturday following a thrilling 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory over the top seed Aryna Sabalenka.

Sabalenka powered into their 11th meeting. The 27-year-old Belarusian broke the American's serve twice to sweep into a 4-1 lead after 18 minutes on centre court.

As the 15,000 spectators feared a rout, Sabalenka, boasting three points for a 5-1 lead, wandered.

She lost 11 points on the trot to allow the 21-year-old back to 4-3 and with three consecutive points to gain parity at 4-4

The world number one woke up to rescue the crisis but Gauff eventually got the break to justify her resilience and belief.

But Gauff failed to maintain her momentum. Sabalenka broke again to tak...