Broniąca tytułu Iga Świątek kwalifikuje się do WTA Finals Rijad

Iga Swiatek was relentless in her pursuit of the first WTA Finals title of her career and claimed the crown with an emphatic 6-1, 6-0 victory over Jessica Pegula on Monday.

She ends 2023 as the undisputed best player in the world and claims the year-end No. 1 ranking for a second consecutive year. With her strong performance, Swiatek overtook Aryna Sabalenka by just a 295-point margin to capture the top spot.

Hosted in Cancun amidst much criticism over last-minute construction and questionable court conditions, the WTA Finals showed us a Swiatek who seemed dialed-in from the start and completely undistracted from the less-than-perfect setup. In losing only 20 games through all of her matches at the tournament, she bested the previous record of 32 lost by Serena Williams for the fewest dropped at the event.

In every round-robin match, Swiatek took at least one set by a lopsided scoreline. In round-robin play, she won every match she played: 7-6(3), 6-0 vs Marketa Vondrousova, 6-0, 7-5 vs Coco Gauff, and 6-1, 6-2 vs Ons Jabeur. Then in the semifinals, she defeated Sabalenka in a match with the World No. 1 ranking effectively on the line and won handily 6-3, 6-2 before her decisive victory against Pegula for the title.

While Cancun was rife with possible distractions for the participants, Swiatek embraced a positive attitude towards the obstacles and focused on the task at hand. Whether it be the extreme and unpredictable weather or the court conditions, she was able to block things out and just focus on her tennis.

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“Because of the wind, I think it’s going to kind of even out every match because sometimes we’re just going to make more mistakes or not control the ball as we could in different conditions,” Swiatek said at the start of the event. “It’s also up to us how we’re going to handle that. I think it’s going to be more about that mental attitude toward these matches and how you accept some mistakes and also use opportunities that you have.”

Pegula also had a strong tournament but ran out of steam in the championship match. Playing in both the singles and doubles draw was quite an undertaking especially when matches became back-logged due to the rainfall. The American had not dropped a set through three group stage matches and her semifinal win over her doubles partner, Gauff