Iga Swiatek loses to Gauff in WTA Finals Round Robin still with a shot to make the semis

On Thursday, three players will be competing for two semifinal spots out of the Orange Group at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF. Sort of.

One of those spots is assured of going to Coco Gauff, whose straight-sets win over Iga Swiatek on Tuesday -- just her second over the Pole in 13 career meetings -- ensured that the World No.3 has a place in the knockout rounds. But her position is up in the air -- though the American largely controls her own destiny in the race to finish as group winner.

One of those spots is assured of going to Coco Gauff, whose straight-sets win over Iga Swiatek on Tuesday -- just her second over the Pole in 13 career meetings -- ensured that the World No.3 has a place in the knockout rounds. But her position is up in the air -- though the American largely controls her own destiny in the race to finish as group winner.

Swiatek, and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, are in contention for the remaining spot. On Thursday, Gauff will face Krejcikova and Swiatek will face 2023 WTA Finals runner-up Jessica Pegula, who has no chance of repeating that feat in Riyadh, having already been eliminated from semifinal contention with two straight-set losses to Gauff and Krejcikova.

Let's break the road to the semifinals down for all three women.

How can Gauff win the group?

A win for Gauff against Krejcikova will put her into the semifinals as the group's winner with a 3-0 record, no matter the result between Swiatek and Pegula.

Crucially, the first-place finisher in the Orange Group will avoid a semifinal against World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, who has qualified for the semifinals as the winner of the Purple Group.

Gauff can also finish in the top spot if Krejcikova beats her in three sets AND Swiatek beats Pegula.

What is Swiatek's path to the semifinals?

Swiatek, the 2023 WTA Finals champion, has only one path to the knockout rounds: She must beat Pegula, and Gauff must also win, for Swiatek to qualify in the second spot.

 
Where does Krejcikova fit in?

Krejcikova -- who lost a 6-4, 3-0 lead to Swiatek earlier in the week -- put herself back in contention with her 6-3, 6-3 win over Pegula. The Czech can clinch the top spot in the group for herself -- and avoid a match against Sabalenka, whom she's lost to six times in seven matches, in the semifinals -- if she beats Gauff in two sets and Swiatek beats Pegula, or if she beats Gauff and Pegula beats Swiatek.

Krejcikova will qualify behind Gauff if Pegula beats Swiatek.

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Well I did say it would come down to who's more solid on the forehand and serve and it kind of did. 

Despite Iga having plenty of chances in set 2 in particular (and being up a break twice) Gauff won all the important point and subsequently won the match in straights. 

Quality wise the match was all over the place from both. I'd say only the first half of set 1 was good.

Iga definitely didn't have her rhythm today on serve or forehand, and once again made too many unforced errors very much the result of lack of match play.

As I said I didn't have high expectations with this tournament but I'm still hopeful for her match against Pegula on Thursday. 

If she plays one solid match this tournament without getting broken that will be a win for this tournament.

Regardless of how the result with Saba in the semis would go. Selfishly I just want to see her play a bit more before the season comes to a close.

But of course it's not only up to Iga. It's up to the woman that beat her. She wins Iga goes through (round robin math is confusingly ridiculous).

Jazda Iga, go out there and play without any pressure. Plenty of players have won this thing even though they were down and out. Never say never.

Iga Swiatek gets hard fought first win at WTA Finals after 2 months absence from tour

I have  missed this outfit very much love the shoes

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Down a set and two service breaks in the second, No.2 seed Iga Swiatek rallied to stun No.8 Barbora Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 on Sunday at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF.

The unlikely victory kept alive Swiatek’s flickering hopes of reclaiming the No.1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka.

The first step was nearly a staggering misstep, as Swiatek, who hadn’t played a match in two months and arrived here with a new coach, at times looked flustered. It wasn’t until she was down 3-0 in the second set that she began to look like a five-time Grand Slam singles champion.

“Even though I played a lot of those [practice] matches,” Swiatek said afterward. “I kind of forgot for a while how it is to feel all those things, a bit different stress and emotions. For sure, I needed some time to adapt. The most important thing was that even though it happened, I managed to fight through that. And was patient enough to wait to get better.”

In a season marred by injury, Krejcikova had played only 29 matches coming into these WTA Finals. But seven of them, all victories, happened at Wimbledon and, based on new rules, she qualified for her second year-end tournament in singles.

Krejcikova pounced immediately in this one, breaking Swiatek’s opening service game when the 23-year-old from Poland launched an awkward forehand long. Swiatek’s best chance to level the set came with Krejcikova serving at 3-2. A double fault -- the first sign of nerves -- gave Swiatek three break points. Krejcikova saved them all and escaped with the game when Swiatek’s return was long.

In the second set, Krejcikova again started quickly, breaking Swiatek in her first two service games and taking what looked to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead. But just as suddenly, after Swiatek scored two breaks, it was 3-all.

They continued on serve until, with Krejcikova serving to force a tiebreak, Swiatek broke through once more. She converted her second set point when a Krejcikova backhand soared long. After 107 minutes, it was one set apiece -- and both players had won 69 points.

The momentum continued for Swiatek when she broke Krejcikova to take a 2-0 lead, which soon ballooned to 5-0. Krejcikova extended it with one last break.

Swiatek won 13 of the final 17 games. Overall, she hit 10 aces and finished with 40 winners. Match time: 2 hours, 32 minutes.

“Honestly, I just focused on getting the balls in,” Swiatek said of the early going. “I needed to focus on the easy stuff. My main goal was just to be solid.

“I’m happy that I won because at the beginning I felt a little bit rusty. “

She's now 10-3 in matches at the WTA Finals, a winning percentage of 76.9, equaling Elina Svitolina’s standard for active players, with a minimum of 10 matches. Swiatek is now 60-8 (.882), the WTA Tour’s best winning percentage.

“It definitely wasn’t the best tennis I can play, but I was really quite solid,” Krejcikova said afterward. “I just feel I lost a little bit the momentum of the match and obviously, I’m not really sure if it was me or Iga. She just came up and started to play more aggressive, started to hit her targets better.

“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s Iga -- and you have to play two sets better than her.”

Even if Swiatek goes on to win the year-end event, Sabalenka can wrap up the top spot by winning her two remaining matches in group play.

In advance of the WTA Finals, for the first time in a couple of years, Swiatek actually practiced with Sabalenka -- the player who snatched away her No.1 ranking near the end of the past two seasons.

In 2023, Swiatek put together a blazing 11-0 run -- that included the title at the WTA Finals in Cancun -- and took it back. But this year, the gap was larger and the task more daunting. Swiatek needed another title at the year-end championships, along with some help from Sabalenka.

“Obviously we’re both fighting for this spot,” Swiatek said ahead of play. “Yeah, it’s been us basically kind of over the past few years. I mean, I am in the tournament. I obviously want to play my best game here and win this tournament.

“I’m just going to focus on my first match and do everything step by step.”


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Well it wasn't a pretty start, but in tennis it's not really how you start but how you finish. And as the match went on and Iga calmed down she got into a better rhythm and took it to Krejcikova. 

I really didn't know what to expect after such a long absence, and I definitely knew there would be some rust as was apparent in the first set and a half. I'm actually really impressed with how Iga was able to not panic and regroup despite not having to feel this sort of stress for 2 months. 

It made me sad to hear in Polish interviews that she had to stop thinking about a lot of external factors coming from Poland during her match. 

Which I can only speculate might have something to do with how the media was abusively criticizing her mental coach in particular. 

It's also possible that whatever else was happening was of a very personal nature that effected her greatly. The fact she was able to overcome and block it mid-match just shows her incredible mental resilience. 

Perhaps most impressive today was how many aces Iga hit. 10 in one match is a personal record (don't think I've seen her hit double digits in a match before). Amazingly she had more aces than Sabalenka and Rybakina combined. 

Which is a little mind blowing, but very much welcome. If this is a sign of working with Wim Fisette, more of that please!. And all this before they even get to truly work on things like the serve and her game in the off season. 

Coco Gauff up next for Iga who had a solid 2nd career win over Pegula. Even though Iga has an overwhelming H2H I never take their matches lightly especially since Coco has been playing solidly after the U.S. Open. So it'll come down to who's more solid on the forehand and serve-wise. 

Hopefully Iga will have a much better start and is able to feel the court better after a lengthy battle. 

Most of all I'm just so damn happy to see her back on court, I'm aware I'm coming off very biased as I say this but she has breathed a bit of life to the end of this season. 

Which at times  has lacked energy and intrigue in the last few months.

Top 8 Women of the 2024 WTA Finals all glamoured up in Riyadh

 

WTA Finals defending champion Iga Swiatek lands in Orange Group with Pegula and Gauff

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was on hand for the draw ceremony at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF to see how this year's groups shook out for the season-ending championships.

For the second straight year, the year-end No.1 ranking will come down to the final event of the season, as World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka looks to hold off No.2 Swiatek down the final stretch.

 
Singles Draw

Purple Group
[1] Aryna Sabalenka
[4] Jasmine Paolini
[5] Elena Rybakina
[7] Zheng Qinwen

Orange Group
[2] Iga Swiatek
[3] Coco Gauff
[6] Jessica Pegula
[8] Barbora Krejcikova

Tournament format: Round-robin play begins on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 3:30 p.m. on the indoor hard courts at the King Saud University Sports Arena. The top two finishers out of each group will advance to the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8, with the winners advancing to the final on Saturday, Nov.9.

Top-seeded Sabalenka and the Purple Group will get underway on Saturday, with the Orange Group set to begin on Sunday.

Order of Play: Day 1

[3] Hsieh/Mertens vs. [6] Melichar-Martinez/Perez
[1] Sabalenka vs. [7] Zheng
[4] Paolini vs. [5] Rybakina
[1] Kichenok/Ostapenko vs. [8] Siniakova/Townsend

Order of Play: Day 2

[2] Dabrowski/Routliffe vs. [7] Chan/Kudermetova
[2] Swiatek vs. [8] Krejcikova
[3] Gauff vs. [6] Pegula
[4] Errrani/Paolini vs. [5] Dolehide/Krawczyk

In the 53rd staging of the Hologic WTA Tour's crown-jewel event, this season's eight best singles players and doubles teams will battle it out for a record-setting total prize money purse of $15,250,000, with an undefeated singles champion set to take home over $5 million.

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Iga Swiatek hires Wim Fisette as new coach

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has hired Wim Fissette as her new coach as she continues to prepare for next month's WTA Finals Riyadh.

"I'm happy to announce that Wim Fissette is joining our team," Swiatek posted on social media. "As you know, I'm preparing for the WTA Finals but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint and I'm working, operating and making decisions with this approach.

"I want to say that I'm very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at a very top level of tennis. It's always crucial to try and get to know each other better but we're off to a good start and I can't wait to compete soon."

The news comes two weeks after the end of her three-year partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she had worked since the end of 2021 -- a period during which Swiatek won fiour of her five Grand Slam titles and ascended to World No.1 for the first time. Prior to Wiktorowski, Swiatek had been coached by Piotr Sierzputowski since 2016. Fissette will be her first non-Polish coach.

Swiatek will be the sixth sometime World No.1 player Fissette has coached. The 44-year-old Belgian has previously had stints with Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka. Fissette has coached Osaka in matches against Swiatek twice -- in the 2022 Miami final, which Osaka lost 6-4, 6-0; and in the Roland Garros second round this year, which Osaka lost 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 from match point up. Osaka announced the end of their four-year collaboration in September.

Swiatek has not competed since her quarterfinal loss to Jessica Pegula at the US Open, and her World No.1 ranking will be under threat from Aryna Sabalenka in the coming weeks.

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Well Wim was indeed the top choice. Makes perfect sense. 1 He was available having just split with Osaka. 2 He has so much experience working with world #1s and his calm temperament really fits the Iga team vibe. 

I really think he'll help Iga develop her skills as a player, make her use all the tools in her tool box and not be afraid to come to the net. 

Obviously big changes are not something that will happen over night, but I'm genuinely excited to see them work together at the WTA Finals in a few short weeks. 

And speaking of the WTA Finals it now seems that Iga will literally have to win every single match in order to take back the number one ranking (and Saba would have to lose 1 or 2). 

Even then it may not be enough and it's very likely Saba will keep the #1 ranking into next year.

Oh yeah, I'm posting this a bit late so Sabalenka is now officially the new world number one again as of this week. 

Thanks to probably the dumbest change in the ranking system in the sports history. 

A system that apparently penalizes a player for not losing badly enough in the mandatory 500 events (of which there are now unnecessarily 6 of), or something along those lines. 

Seriously the fact that the WTA had to release an article explaining it is evidence in itself. 

We went from 12 mandatory tournaments to 20 in one year and extended quite a few by 2 weeks. And this is how the ranking is calculated?. 

Your least bad mandatory event result?. 

Absolutely ridiculous.

I really hope it is corrected in the very near future, or literally no one will be able to understand how it works much less be able to follow it. 

However this season ends for Iga I just honestly cannot wait to see her back on court again. I just want to see her healthy, happy and thriving in a sport she loves and is so damn good at.

The tour is simply not the same without her around.

Iga Swiatek splits with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has announced the end of her three-year coaching partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski. Swiatek announced the news on Instagram on Friday.

"After 3 years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski we decided to part way," Swiatek wrote. "I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together."

Swiatek hired Wiktorowski, the long-time coach of former World No.2 at the end of the 2021 season. Under Wiktorowski's tutelage, Swiatek went on to capture four of her five Grand Slams, ascend to World No.1, and engineer the longest win streak of the 2000s, reeling off 37 consecutive wins in 2022. Together, they captured 19 of her 22 career titles and an Olympic silver medal this past summer.

Last year, Wiktorowski was voted the WTA's Coach of the Year by his peers.

"Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game," Swiatek wrote. "His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I've never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together.

"Our main goal was to become No.1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first. We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it. Together with coach Wiktorowski we won many tournaments and 4 Grand Slams."

Swiatek withdrew from this week's China Open, where was a defending champion, and next week's Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open. This year, she has won four WTA 1000 titles this year at Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome, as well as her fifth major title at Roland Garros. She has qualified for her fourth consecutive WTA Finals in Riyadh, which will be played in November.

She confirmed in her post that she is in the midst of the process of hiring a new coach.

"Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start a cooperation with a new coach," she wrote. "I'm in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I'm ready to take the next step of my career. I will let you know when I make a decision."

According to Swiatek's post, the decision to end her work with Wiktorowski was mutual and amicable.

"Coach, THANK YOU, I wish you all the best," Swiatek wrote. "I know that you would like to rest after these 3 years of hard work and traveling a lot and spending some well deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you'll get what you need."

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This was quite surprise to fans and tennis personalities alike. I think for many the most surprising is the timing. 

On the one hand it would seem to make more sense to stay with the same coach till the end of the year and start fresh in 2025. 

On the other hand on the constant hamster wheel that is the tennis tour there is no good time for something like this. 

End of the season does give her more time to find someone and see how they gel in the off season before working on tour together. The spit certainly seemed mutual. 

As she states seems like her coach has had enough of the tour life and Iga herself is searching for some new energy and a new voice. 

Being very ambitious she's always working on improving her game and I guess on some level she felt like with Thomas she has gone as far as she could.

Seems like Iga realized that if she wants to do better at places like Wimbledon or Australia she has to be willing to make some big changes.

He helped her fulfill everything he promised chief among them being world #1 and then some. What they have done together is nothing short of extraordinary  19 titles in all (4 of them Slams). 

Wiktorowski really helped to unlock Iga's potential so as a fan I'll always be grateful for that. Having Iga at the top of the sport has made it better.

She'll now be working with a non-Polish coach (something she mentioned she might be ready for in 2 or 3 years). So in that sense she's definitely sticking to that timeline. Which will be fascinating.   

There's a lot of online speculation about who that person might be. Top 2 at the moment seem to be former coach of Osaka and Kerber, Wim Fisette. As well as Justine Henin's coach Carlos Rodriguez. 

All very intriguing choices. I guess the question will be how receptive the rest of the Iga team will be to allowing someone new to take the lead and bring in some changes.

It's understandable that Iga has chosen to withdraw from some tournaments to deal with it all (also mentioned being tired having played so many tournaments again this year). 

Selfishly I was hoping she she would play Wuhan because 2 months without Iga is just too long. And in my very biased opinion the tour is a bit boring without her in the mix.

Plus it also means the WTA Finals will be a real battle for world #1 again. A spot which Sabalenka could once again take if she were to reach the quarter finals of Wuhan. Muchova stopped her in Bejing but she's always had more success in Wuhan.

Iga Swiatek moves to 7th place on all time world #1 list at 122 weeks

Sometimes it's hard to believe this image is from 2022 & 2 years later Iga is still #1

World No.1 Iga Swiatek will spend her 122nd week at World No.1 on the PIF WTA Rankings this week, moving past Ashleigh Barty to sit at No.7 on the all-time list.

Only six players have tallied more weeks as World No.1 than Swiatek:

Cumulative weeks at World No.1:

1. Stefanie Graf: 377 weeks
2. Martina Navratilova: 332 weeks
3. Serena Williams: 319 weeks
4. Chris Evert: 260 weeks
5. Martina Hingis: 209 weeks
6. Monica Seles: 178 weeks
7. Iga Swiatek: 122 weeks

Barty first ascended to No.1 in June of 2019 after winning back-to-back tournaments at the French Open and Birmingham. The Australian held the top ranking for seven weeks before being overtaken by Naomi Osaka for four weeks. Barty retook the top ranking after the 2019 US Open and held it for 114 consecutive weeks until her retirement in April 2022.

Barty's retirement made way for then-No.2 Swiatek, 19, to ascend to the top spot and make history as Poland's first World No.1. She responded with a remarkable 2022 campaign, which saw her win 37 consecutive matches -- the longest streak of the 21st century -- from Doha until Wimbledon and finishing as year-end No.1.

Swiatek held the top ranking for 75 consecutive weeks before relinquishing it to Aryna Sabalenka after the 2023 US Open. Swiatek's 75-week streak is the third longest in tour history for a first-time No.1, behind only Stefanie Graf (186) and Martina Hingis (80).

Last year, Swiatek mounted a furious challenge to retake the World No.1 and finish as year-end No.1 for the second straight season. She won her last 11 matches of the season, taking 22 of 23 sets to sweep titles at the China Open and WTA Finals. With the year-end No.1 ranking on the line in the final two matches of the year, she defeated Sabalenka in the WTA Finals semifinals and then locked up No.1 by beating Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0 in the championship match.


Swiatek has held the No.1 ranking ever since, extending her active streak to 47 consecutive weeks.

More outstanding numbers behind Swiatek's rise and reign at No.1:


Since 2000, Swiatek (26) is one of only three players to claim 25 or more Top 10 wins while holding the No.1 ranking, along with Serena Williams (62) and Justine Henin (28).


Among the 10 players to hold the No.1 ranking over the past 10 years, Swiatek (156) has recorded the most tour-level match wins, eclipsing Serena Williams' 143 wins.


With 21 consecutive wins between Madrid and Wimbledon this year, Swiatek became the first player to win more than 20 straight matches as World No.1 since Serena Williams (26, 2014-15).Since the start of the 2020 season, Swiatek (42) has recorded the most Top 10 wins of any player. She is one of only two players with 25 or more, along with Aryna Sabalenka.


Among the 34 players with more than 20 matches vs. Top 10 opponents since 2020, Swiatek (72.4%, 42-16) is the only player to hold a winning percentage above 50%.

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