Iga Swiatek took home her eighth title of the year, fending off a spirited effort by qualifier Donna Vekic on Sunday to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to win the San Diego Open.
The top seed Swiatek needed 1 hour and 47 minutes to earn the 11th singles title of her career with her tour-leading 64th match-win of the year, the most since Serena Williams won 78 matches in 2013 (including Billie Jean King Cup play).
Swiatek improved to 24-1 win-loss record on U.S. soil in 2022. She adds the San Diego trophy to triumphs in the States at the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami, as well as her third career Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Vekic’s resurgent run came to an end, but it was her second match of the day.
Vekic’s semifinal was interrupted by rain Saturday night with the Croatian trailing Danielle Collins 4-2 in the third set, but she fought back, and Sunday closed out the match in a third-set tiebreak.
After winning her two qualifying matches, Vekic had defeated four straight Top 25 players in this week's main draw. But despite pushing Swiatek into a third set for the first time in their three meetings, overcoming the top seed was a step too far for Vekic.
Swiatek won 82 percent of her second-service points in the final, while Vekic only had a 39 percent success rate behind her own second serves. That helped Swiatek convert four of her six break points on the day.Swiatek was the steadier player in the first set, drawing errors from Vekic to earn the only break at 4-2 en route to the one-set lead.
But Vekic’s aggressive play paid off in the second set, where she forced errors from the World No.1 with world-class backhands to earn the only break point of the set at 3-2. There, Vekic won a wild rally with a passing winner to break for 4-2, and she went on to take the set.
In the end, Swiatek came out firing in the third set, wrapping up lengthy rallies with pinpoint winners to improve to 3-0 against Vekic.
Still thinking about that bagel set (her 21st of the season), mesmerizing how she can go to another gear in a final.
If you want to win a match with Iga Swiatek in a final you have to play to your absolute limits the way Krejcikova did in Ostrava otherwise you get steam rolled.
It's astounding.
And honestly something I've only seen from the legends of he sport.
Iga is doing it at just 21 with plenty of time to get even better. Scary.
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