Iga Swiatek starts WTA Finals in Cancun with hard fought win

CANCUN, Mexico -- Champions invariably create their own momentum.

Down 5-2 in the opening set and looking out of sorts, Iga Swiatek swiftly steadied herself and went on to defeat Marketa Vondrousova 7-6 (3), 6-0. In a meeting of 2023 major champions, Swiatek’s deep, forceful strokes bested Vondrousova’s customary guile.

Swiatek finished in a blur, winning the last four games of the first set, the tiebreak and all six games in the second.

Lifted by a supportive crowd in Estadio Paradisus, Swiatek swept to an early lead in the Chetumal Group that includes three of this season’s four Grand Slam winners.

“Honestly,” Swiatek told reporters, “even in the first part of the match I wasn’t feeling like I was playing bad. I just felt like I was making mistakes on the last shots within the rally. I felt that there was, for sure, room for improvement, but I didn’t need to change a lot. So I just wanted to be more precise and more solid … not play risky.”

The 22-year-old from Poland is now 3-0 versus Vondrousova and has the most career victories over the WTA Finals qualifiers, as well as the most match-wins this year, nine.

Before the tournament began, Vondrousova said she would try to impose her “annoying” game and, for the first seven games, it worked beautifully. With many of her groundstrokes falling well inside the service box, she baited Swiatek into errors on the forehand side.

And Swiatek’s service game? Don’t ask. After four tries, she had 0 aces and three double faults and lost 15 of 26 points. She was broken three of four times and her body language indicated a growing level of frustration.

But as the “Vamos Iga”s began to spill out of the stands, Vondrousova began to fade, hitting two double faults to lose her serve. Swiatek, buoyed, went on to win 12 of 15 points. The critical shot was a backhand winner down the line to level it at 5-all; it was the longest point to the time, and the best, too.

After Vondrousova managed to force it to a tiebreak, she won the first two points, employing her drop shot effectively. But Swiatek came back to win seven of the last eight points -- the final blow a Vondrousova double fault. It was a 64-minute set, the most competitive singles frame to date.

“After the ball change, I felt like I was playing in a better rhythm,” Swiatek said. “Maybe that was something that also helped me switch the mindset a little bit. I also thought even if the set is going to go wrong, I can come back in the second."

Swiatek wound up breaking Vondrousova six times and her meaningful measureables came into some semblance of order. She finished with 19 winners and 22 unforced errors. Vondrousova had only six winners and 23 unforced errors.

“I was 5-2 up and she started to play better,” Vondrousova said. “She didn’t give me much of a chance after. The second set, she was playing really amazing -- there was nothing much to do.”

While left-handed players can create difficulty for right-handers unaccustomed to playing them, Swiatek has no such issue. She's 7-0 against lefties this year -- and 14-for-14 in sets.

The No.1 ranking is still a possibility for Swiatek, although she must make the final to have a chance.

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131 - Iga Swiatek is the 4th player this Century to win more than 130 matches in a two-seasons span (131, 67 in 2022 and 64 in 2023), after J. Jankovic (145, 2007-08), S. Williams (136, 2012-13) and C. Wozniacki (132, 2009-10). Double.


+20 - Iga Swiatek is the first player to win more than 20 sets with a 6-0 scoreline for consecutive seasons since Steffi Graf and Monica Seles (1991-1992). Baker.

 

How Iga Swiatek can pass Aryna Sabalenka for year-end No. 1 at the WTA Finals

 

The battle for year-end WTA No. 1 is down to two players heading into next week’s WTA Finals—Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, who are currently No. 1 and No. 2 on the WTA rankings.

Sabalenka will go into Cancun with a 630-point lead, 8,425 to 7,795, but with the WTA Finals offering the most ranking points of any tournament on the calendar outside of the Grand Slams—up to 1,500 points for an undefeated winner—it’s not that much of a longshot for Swiatek to pass Sabalenka at the finish line.

It’s still not going to be easy by any means, though.

At a minimum, Swiatek needs to either win the title OR reach the final with a 3-0 round robin record. And those minimum requirements increase as Sabalenka keeps winning.

Here’s how Swiatek can pass Sabalenka, with the assumption that Sabalenka plays all three of her round robin matches:

If Sabalenka goes 0-3 in the RR (round robin)…
… Swiatek needs to reach the final with a 3-0 RR record OR win the title (with any RR record).

If Sabalenka goes 1-2 in the RR and DOESN’T reach the final…
… Swiatek needs to win the title with at least a 1-2 RR record.

If Sabalenka goes 2-1 in the RR and DOESN’T reach the final…
… Swiatek needs to win the title with at least a 2-1 RR record.

If Sabalenka goes 3-0 in the RR and DOESN’T reach the final…
… Swiatek needs to win the title with a 3-0 RR record.

Anything other than those scenarios means Sabalenka keeps No. 1.

Technically, there’s a scenario where a Swiatek-Sabalenka final would determine No. 1, if Swiatek gets there with a 3-0 round robin record and Sabalenka gets there with a 1-2 round robin record—but barring withdrawals and group reshuffling, those round robin records would see the two of them face off in the semifinals.

The points breakdown for the WTA Finals is as follows: a player earns 125 points for every round robin match played and another 125 points for every round robin win; if they advance past the round robin, a semifinal win earns 330 points and a final win 420 points.

So, a player who wins the title undefeated will earn 1,500 points (750 for going 3-0 in the round robin, 330 for winning their semifinal and 420 for winning the final). Only the Grand Slams, where the champion earns 2,000 points, have more points up for grabs.

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WTA Finals Player Profile: Iga Swiatek

Current Ranking: 2

W/L: 63-11

Titles: 5 (Qatar, Stuttgart, Roland Garros, Warsaw, Beijing)

Grand Slam Record: 17-3

WTA Finals Appearance: 3

Best Result: SF (2022)

“You don’t get up in the morning to be average.”

That’s Iga Swiatek’s motto. Spending much of the year ranked No. 1, collecting a fourth career Grand Slam trophy, and a tour-leading five tournament titles certainly qualifies as above average. Inking a lucrative endorsement deal with On to become the running giant’s face of its tennis business isn’t too shabby either.

But expectations being what they are, it could seem like an average year for Swiatek. Aside from the Roland Garros title, a quarterfinal showing at Wimbledon was her next best result in a major. Her fourth-round loss at the US Open (to Jelena Ostapenko) pushed her off the No. 1 ranking after 75 weeks—10th on the all-time list—as she failed to defend her title.

The introspective 22 year-old admitted that the pressure to continue her reign was exhausting and adversely affected her tennis. Swiatek’s mentality is to always search for ways to extract her best, such as practicing with tape over her mouth to improve her endurance. After the disappointment in New York, she took time off to work on technique and rediscover greater consistency and confidence in her game. The break eventually paid off in China earlier this month, where she dropped just one set on route to the title.

The win puts finishing the year back at No. 1 in play in Cancun.

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Why Iga Swiatek's Beijing win was an important moment of self-discovery

BEIJING -- Iga Swiatek once said that it's not a week if she's not crying. Sure enough, when Liudmila Samsonova's final errant shot landed at the China Open on Sunday, Swiatek's tears started to flow. Thankfully for Swiatek, they were happy, cathartic moments of elation.

They revealed just how much she doubted herself at the start of the week. Losing the No.1 ranking with her Round of 16 exit to Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open had weighed more heavily on Swiatek than she had led on.

"I would say the overall state that I kind of had for a couple of weeks," Swiatek said. "I feel like this tournament will give me confidence for the rest of my career that there's always a chance to overcome and work on what you do or what you feel. You can always get better. Sometimes it's pretty easy, but we tend to make it more complicated in our heads.

"I'm really happy that I just focused on hard work. It paid off -- maybe not instantly -- but I'm happy that after US Open I just got back to basics and just worked really hard tennis-wise. I'll just continue to do that."

Throughout the week in Beijing, Swiatek spoke about needing some time to regroup. She had, after all, been unexpectedly thrust into the World No.1 after Ashleigh Barty's sudden retirement last April. Given her 75-week reign of domination at the top of the game -- the third-longest debut streak at No.1 in WTA history -- it's easy to dismiss the degree of difficulty of what she ultimately accomplished.

During her reign, she picked up three Grand Slam titles, engineered a historic 37-match win streak, and single-handedly forced the rest of the tour to hit the practice courts. Collectively, they have elevated the modern game.

"It was just kind of hard for me to not think about all this stuff that sometimes is messing with my head a little bit," Swiatek said. "But it really clicked here in Beijing.

"It wasn't easy before the first match. I felt really anxious. I felt like usually, after feeling down, I tend to bounce back. This was something that I was kind of expecting to do. It put even a little bit more pressure on myself."

Swiatek made it look easy in Beijing. To capture her 16th career title and tour-leading fifth of the year, Swiatek lost just one set. In the semifinals, she ended US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match win streak, avenging a tough loss from Cincinnati. Her serve was a revelation. She did not face a break point in the last five sets she played in Beijing.

In the final, she hit zero unforced errors. The win was her 63rd of the season, the most on tour.

"For sure, here in Beijing it just worked," Swiatek said. "Every day I was able to keep this attitude. I think I really just enjoyed playing here on this surface and on these stadiums. Everything kind of worked.

"Sometimes I feel like that at Roland Garros, that I really know this place, that everything is really nice and comfortable. Here I'm for the first time, but I also felt that. I just enjoyed my team here in Beijing, and that also had some influence."

Swiatek will have little time to celebrate her win. Her coach, Tomasz Witkorwksi will have her back on the practice court to ready for her final tournament of the season at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, where she will have the opportunity to retake the No.1 ranking.

"Today is about a celebration," Swiatek said. "But he told me when I'm going to be back at work. Yeah, it's not a long time for me to have rest at this point 'cause, for sure, Cancun is really important tournament. I want to get ready and also kind of continue the work I've been doing after US Open in terms of technique and what I want to improve on court."

"I would say if I would become World No. 1 again, for sure I think I would be kind of more prepared for everything. It's not like I would change some things exactly, but I would know how to deal with them at this point.

"I think if I learn and take lessons from it, it's going to be easier. But for sure the first thing is getting there. I'll just try to do that. For now, step by step. I'll just celebrate this trophy."

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Iga Swiatek wins her 6th WTA 1000 title, first in Beijing

 

BEIJING -- World No.2 Iga Swiatek capped off a perfect tournament debut at the China Open after defeating No.22 Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-2 in Sunday's final to win her tour-leading fifth title of the season.

With the win, Swiatek becomes the first player since Serena Williams to win five or more titles in back-to-back seasons, with the American doing so in 2014 and 2015.

"I'm happy that I won because, for sure, this is really big for me," Swiatek said. "Winning this title is something that I never would have thought at the beginning of the tournament about. I'm pretty proud of myself."

Beijing is Swiatek's 16th career title, joining her 2023 title hauls at Roland Garros, Doha, Stuttgart and Warsaw. She lost just one set in the tournament. It is also her sixth WTA 1000 title, making her the only player to win six or more WTA 1000 titles before the age of 23, eclipsing Caroline Wozniacki’s five.

Playing in her seventh final of the season on Sunday, Swiatek moved her head-to-head record to 3-0 over Samsonova. Earlier this season, Swiatek dropped just one game to Samsonova on the hard courts of Dubai.

Samsonova booked a spot in her second WTA 1000 final of the season by notching her third Top 10 win of the year over No.5 Elena Rybakina in the semifinals. Her Beijing run will ensure a return to the Top 20 on Monday. But her efforts throughout the week, including wins over Jelena Ostapenko, Petra Kvitova and Marta Kostyuk, had left the 24-year-old short on energy.

How the match was won: On a cool night in Beijing, Swiatek took advantage of the slower conditions to neutralize Samsonova's power. After an exchange of five holds to open the match, Samsonova double-faulted on her first break point of the match to give Swiatek the lead. Swiatek responded by continuing to shrink the court on Samsonova, hitting zero unforced errors in the opening set and breaking again to seal the lead.

Coming off a near-perfect semifinal performance against US Open champion Coco Gauff, where Swiatek did not face a single break point, her serve again proved dominant. She did not face a break point against Samsonova and locked down her game from the baseline by playing measured, aggressive tennis. After breaking Samsonova for a 3-1 lead in the second set, Swiatek earned a key hold in a 30-all game to extend her lead to 4-1.

Swiatek closed out the win from there, earning her first match point with a perfect forehand passing shot and sealing the 69-minute win after Samsonova put a drop shot into the net.

"Well, for sure you could feel that we are playing a final because it was a little bit tense, I would say," Swiatek said. "But I'm happy that I kind of adjusted to what Liudmila was playing. I wanted to really be consistent with what I wanted to do no matter how she's doing."

Stat of the match: Swiatek finished the match without tallying a single unforced error.

"I think this is what she's doing the best because this is the stress that she made to other players, that she doesn't make unforced errors," Samsonova said. "Every time you need to do something more. It's not real what you feel, but she makes you feel like this. This is what I learned today."

Swiatek tightens the Race for year-end No.1: The year-end No.1 will be decided at the WTA Finals in Cancun. Swiatek came into the tournament trailing No.1 Aryna Sabalenka by 1,305 points on the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard. With the win on Sunday, Swiatek cut Sabalenka's lead down to 630 points, with 1,500 points up for grabs in Cancun.

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Many people myself included said losing the #1 ranking might be the best thing to happen to her in terms of helping her relax and play more freely. This tournament is the consummate proof of that. Iga herself has pretty much admitted it in interviews. 

As exciting as it would be if Iga were to manage to end the year as World #1 again, a part of me just wants her to stay #2 a bit more. Just to see what other freedom and motivation it'd give her for the season to come.

Also really hope this win quiets a lot of the pundits and doubters who were writing Iga off due to her Japan Open loss and general performance since U.S. Open. 

Literally discounting all her previous achievements and the fact that she's only 22 with now 16 titles and counting.

To all those people I have bad news, Iga Swiatek is here to stay. 

Pretty much for years to come, and not all those  years will be like 2022 but her consistency is definitely something that'll remain a constant whether she wins titles or not. 

So you'll all just have to live with it.

Get some well deserved rest Iga, see you in Cancun. 

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek ends Gauff win streak to reach 7th final of the season in Beijing

BEIJING -- No.2 Iga Swiatek snapped US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match win streak after defeating the World No.3 6-2, 6-3 in the semifinals of the China Open. The win boosted Swiatek into her third WTA 1000 final of the season and seventh final of the year.

Gauff had not lost a match since her title run in Cincinnati in August. Her 16-match win streak was the longest win streak of her career and the longest by an American teenager since Serena Williams also won 16 matches in 1999.

"I'm really happy with my performance," Swiatek said on court. "It feels like I can play freely again, so I'm really happy. It's been a while since I felt that way. So I'll remember for the rest of my career that even though tougher times may come, in your mind, you can always overcome that. And with hard work, you can achieve it.

"I'm happy that I switched my attitude after US Open, and hopefully I'll be able to keep it for as long as possible."

As she bids to capture her first WTA 1000 title of the season and a tour-leading fifth title of the year, Swiatek will face No.22 Liudmila Samsonova in Sunday's final. Samsonova advanced to her second WTA 1000 final of the season after defeating No.5 Elena Rybakina 7-6(7), 6-3 in the second semifinal.

Saturday's semifinal was the ninth career meeting between Swiatek and Gauff, the most meetings for either player against any opponent. Gauff notched her first win in eight meetings over Swiatek during her win streak. That victory came in the Cincinnati semifinals over the summer. Before that loss, Swiatek had won the first 14 sets they played.

How the match was won: Coming off a resilient three-set victory over Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals, Swiatek picked up where she left off. She did not face a break point in the opening set, dominating Gauff from the service line and the baseline. After firing a return winner to earn the first break of the match at 3-1, Swiatek eased through the set to take it after 40 minutes.

Swiatek hit just four unforced errors in the first set, keeping consistent pressure on Gauff's service games. The American won just 27 percent of her second serve points. In contrast, Swiatek lost just four points in her own service games.

Swiatek did not relinquish her momentum in the second set. She broke immediately and consolidated her lead to 2-0. After holding serve to close the game to 2-1, Gauff called a medical timeout to have her right shoulder assessed. Swiatek held at love when play resumed, extending her lead to 3-1. She landed 95 percent of her first serves in the second set and methodically closed out the match.

Final stats: Swiatek finished the match with 17 winners to 6 unforced errors. Serving at 75 percent for the match, she did not face a single break point. In fact, Swiatek lost a total of just eight points on her serve in the match.

Gauff finished the match with 12 winners to 15 unforced errors.

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Iga Swiatek plays her best match of the season to reach semis in Beijing

BEIJING -- No.2 Iga Swiatek advanced to the semifinals of the China Open after defeating No.10 Caroline Garcia 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 6-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Making her tournament debut in Beijing, Swiatek advanced to her 11th semifinal of the season and 11th WTA 1000 semifinal of her career. Beijing is her fifth hard-court WTA-1000 semifinal of 2023, equaling Serena Williams (2013) and Simona Halep (2015) for the most hard-court WTA-1000 semifinals in a single season. Swiatek also made the semifinals or better in Dubai, Indian Wells, Montreal, and Cincinnati.

In her career, Swiatek is now 7-0 in WTA-1000 hard-court quarterfinals. She is the second player since the format was introduced in 2009 to win her first seven WTA-1000 quarterfinals on this surface after Ashleigh Barty.

Facing off for the first time since the WTA Finals last fall, Swiatek entered Friday's duel with 2-1 advantage in the head-to-head. Last year, the two split their two meetings, with Garcia winning on clay in Warsaw and Swiatek handing the Frenchwoman her only loss in Fort Worth last fall.

How the match was won: Neither player gave an inch in the first set. Garcia converted 71 percent of her first serves, won 80 percent of her first-serve points and 75 percent of her second-serve points. Swiatek kept pace, serving at 80 percent and winning 89 percent of her first-serve points and 86 percent of her second-serve points.

With no break points through the first 12 games, Garcia and Swiatek headed to a tiebreak. Garcia rode her strong serving day through the tiebreak to lead 5-2, before two key passing shots from Swiatek leveled the score to 6-6.

Swiatek took the lead by besting Garcia in a baseline rally for 7-6. After opening up space for a forehand winner down the line, the former No.1 put her forehand long to keep Garcia in the set.

After connecting on a deep return to earn a fourth set point, Garcia closed out the 53-minute opening set with a curling second serve that earned a short reply that she put away into the open court.

Swiatek struck back early in the second set, generating the first break point of the match and breaking for a 2-1 lead. She extended that lead to 4-1 before Garcia stormed back. With Swiatek serving for the set at 5-4, Garcia broke at 15-40 with a perfect backhand return down the line.

Turning point: With Swiatek serving to stay in the match, Garcia came within two points of closing out a straight-sets win. But two clutch points from Swiatek put the match into a second tiebreak.

Swiatek took an early 4-0 lead but, as was the case in the set, the Pole could not hold off Garcia. After closing the gap to 5-4, Garcia struck a lightning-quick forehand return to level to 5-5.

But with Swiatek reeling, Garcia could not land the final blow. She put an aggressive forehand return just wide to give Swiatek her first set point and she converted by winning a backhand rally to take the match into its third hour.

"For sure it was really intense," Swiatek said. "We played really fast. There was no time sometimes to think or analyze. I'm happy I used my intuition a lot.

"For sure a lot of tight moments. In both of these first sets, every ball counted. I'm happy that in the third I could just go for it."

Having leveled the match, Swiatek powered through the final set. After breaking Garcia to build a 3-0 lead, Swiatek earned a final insurance break at 5-1 and closed out the 2-hour and 35-minute win.


Final stats: On a remarkable serving day from both players, Swiatek withstood 16 aces from Garcia and kept the Frenchwoman at bay on return. Garcia generated just two break points for the match, converting both, while Swiatek generated six and converted on four.

Swiatek finished with 30 winners to just 15 unforced errors in the match. Garcia struck 46 winners to 26 unforced errors.

Up next: As she bids to capture her first WTA 1000 title of the season, Swiatek will face US Open champion Coco Gauff on Saturday in a rematch of the Cincinnati semifinal. There, Gauff earned her first win in eight matches over Swiatek, winning 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-4.

The American comes into the match riding the longest win streak of the 2023 season after notching her 16th straight win in the quarterfinals.

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This was the kind of match every tennis fan lives for, fantastic serving, great rallies and shot making. An all around high quality match from both (worth staying up until 3am for).  

This was by far Iga's best match of the 2nd half of the season as well as the season overall. 

It was especially impressive serving-wise and handling pressure points. It was a real pleasure to witness. 

If Iga is able to bring at least half of what she showed last night Gauff will have her hands full and it will make for another fantastic meeting. 

I like Gauff but I would absolutely love for Iga to get some revenge for the U.S. Open loss. Just to show that despite all of Gauff's improvements Iga can still adjust and beat the best.

Also talk about a confidence booster right before the WTA Finals at the end of the month. 

Plus who doesn't love breaking someone's win streak?.

I'm expecting it to be very close. If it's anything like her match with Garcia it'll be a hell of a battle.

Jazda!.

 

Iga Swiatek wins the battle of the Poles to reach the quarters in Beijing

Iga Swiatek has experienced many varied situations on the Hologic WTA Tour, but on Wednesday she faced a relatively new dynamic. The No.2 seed had little trouble with it, racing through her second tour-level match against a compatriot 6-1, 6-1 over Magda Linette to reach the the China Open quarterfinals.

The former World No.1, who is making her debut in Beijing, will next face either No.9 seed Caroline Garcia or Anhelina Kalinina, who play their third-round match on Thursday.

Here are the key numbers from Swiatek's straight-sets win:

4: Number of times Swiatek has faced a fellow Pole across all professional levels. Her only previous tour-level meeting with a countrywoman was in the first round of Warsaw 2022, when she defeated Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2. She improved to 3-1 overall against her compatriots, with the only loss coming via retirement against Joanna Zawadzka in the first round of the 2018 Warsaw ITF W25 event.

2: This was just the second all-Polish matchup at WTA 1000 level since the format was introduced in 2009, following Urszula Radwanska's 6-4, 6-3 defeat of sister Agnieszka Radwanska in the first round of Dubai 2009.

14: The result puts Swiatek into her 14th quarterfinal of 2023, and ninth at WTA 1000 level or above. She has reached at least the last eight of all seven WTA 1000 tournaments she has contested (having not played in Miami or Guadalajara).

4: Swiatek becomes the fourth player since 2009 to reach seven or more WTA 1000 quarterfinals in a single season, following Agnieszka Radwanska (eight in 2012 and seven in 2014), Li Na (seven in 2012) and Serena Williams (seven in 2013).


60: The result was Swiatek's 60th win of 2023. Her overall record this season is 60-11 so far. In 2022, she finished with a 67-9 record.

18: This was the 18th match Swiatek has won this year for the loss of two or fewer games.

65: Minutes required by Swiatek to triumph in her first meeting with Linette. She tallied 16 winners to Linette's three, and kept her unforced error count to 11 compared to Linette's 13.

0: Break points faced by Swiatek. She dropped just eight points behind her serve in total -- three behind her first and five behind her second.

33: Linette was unable to take advantage of a below-par 33% first-serve percentage by Swiatek in the first set. In the second, the World No.2 improved substantially to land 80% of her first deliveries.

51: Swiatek won almost double the number of points in the match than Linette, who totalled 26.

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Iga Swiatek continues winning on China Open debut

The top two seeds at the China Open both overcame tough opposition to book their places in the third round. No.1 Aryna Sabalenka had to erase deficits in both sets to edge qualifier Katie Boulter 7-5, 7-6(2), while No.2 Iga Swiatek pulled away from Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-1 after a close opener.

Swiatek had not faced Gracheva since their junior days, a 6-3, 6-2 win on the clay of Milan in 2017, but the No.47-ranked Frenchwoman has posted her best career results this year. Though her form has tailed off following the Austin final and back-to-back fourth-round runs at Indian Wells and Miami, Gracheva was able to test Swiatek in the first set before the Polish player rolled in the second.

How Swiatek defeated Gracheva: Two superb winners in the first three points from Gracheva were a statement of her aggressive intent. But while the 23-year-old delivered her share of highlights, four-time major champion Swiatek was able to sustain her top level throughout the whole match.

Gracheva's best passage of play came in the first set, when she cut Swiatek's 4-1 double-break lead to 4-3. However, Swiatek steadied herself with some superb forehands to preserve her insurance break and close out the set.

The former World No.1 battled through a five-deuce game at the start of the second set to break ahead of a 90-minute rain delay. On resumption, Gracheva's form of the first set had disappeared. Her unforced error tally mounted to 24, while Swiatek repeatedly teed off on returns to race towards the finishing line.

What's next for Swiatek: A rare meeting against a Polish compatriot as she takes on Australian Open semifinalist Magda Linette. Swiatek has not faced Linette before. She has played a fellow Pole only three times at any pro level before. Her only tour-level meeting with a countrywoman was in the first round of Warsaw 2022, when she defeated Magdalena Frech 6-1, 6-2.

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Iga Swiatek makes a winning tournament debut in Beijing China

BEIJING -- World No.2 Iga Swiatek advanced to the second round of the China Open after defeating No.55 Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4, 6-3 on Monday. Making her tournament debut at the WTA 1000 event in Beijing, Swiatek will face France's Varvara Gracheva next.

Swiatek fired 17 winners in the 50-minute opening set to hold off the Spaniard. After an early exchange of breaks, Swiatek broke open the match by breaking Sorribes Tormo for a 4-3 lead. Along with her reliable baseline game, Swiatek made frequent forays into the net to successfully blunt Sorribes Tormo's desire to extend rallies, winning 15 of 17 net points in the opening set.

"For sure, today I felt really confident and comfortable because I've been practicing that a lot," Swiatek said. "I'm pretty proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel like my volley has changed. I'm really happy with that.

"I think against some players it's kind of necessary to go to the net, and today that was that kind of a match."

After taking the lead for good, Swiatek dialed up her aggressive play. She won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to build a double-break lead at 3-0. Though Sorribes successfully broke Swiatek three times down the stretch, the Pole refused to let Sorribes hold serve once, breaking in all five of her service games.

"You have to be patient with her because she's running for every ball," Swiatek said. "I kind of wanted to just be solid and be intensive but not make too many mistakes with risking."

Swiatek finished with 27 winners to 25 unforced errors, breaking serve a total of seven times. Sorribes Tormo hit six winners to 16 unforced errors.

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Iga Swiatek in no rush to reclaim world number 1 ranking, focus on future development

BEIJING -- Iga Swiatek is embracing her return to the role of being a part of the chasing pack on the Hologic WTA Tour. But the World No.2 says she's in no rush to reclaim the World No.1 ranking.

Coming off a quarterfinal appearance in Tokyo last week, Swiatek is set to make her tournament debut at the China Open. Seeded No.2, she will open her campaign against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo.

Having ceded the No.1 ranking to Aryna Sabalenka at the US Open last month, the 22-year-old says she's acclimated quickly to her new role as the hunter.

"I think it's a little bit easier to come back to the mindset of chasing somebody because that's what we've been doing our whole lives," Swiatek told reporters in Beijing. "There's only one person who's at No.1. I think this was harder to get used to last season.

"But honestly, it doesn't really matter for me because after US Open, I knew I'm going to drop to second position. I stopped thinking about rankings at all because I felt like there's some baggage off my shoulders. I could focus more on just working and kind of getting back to the more peaceful and normal rhythm of practicing."

Swiatek enters Beijing still leading the Hologic WTA Tour in match wins with a 57-11 record this season. She is the co-leader in titles alongside US Open champion Coco Gauff, tallying four on the year. She has already qualified for her third consecutive WTA Finals.

Now that her 75-week reign at the top is over, Swiatek can fully embrace the concept of just playing with an eye toward long-term improvement.

"It's different because you're just focusing on the future, not on defending something," Swiatek said. "I'm kind of using that.

"But overall I'm also worried that it's the last tournaments of the season, so I'm not going to be 100 percent fresh. My main goal is to do some stuff differently on court in terms of the technique and tactics, to develop as a player, not really chase points or rankings."

As promised after her fourth-round loss to Jelena Ostapenko at the US Open, Swiatek got a two-week training block with her team before the Asian Swing. Given her busy playing schedule this year and a pair of injuries derailing her training program, practice blocks have been rare for the Pole.

"I realized how much work I have to do in pre-season because there are a lot of things I want to improve," Swiatek said. "My coach also has a good plan. Sometimes it's not possible to do all of that in two weeks. But we kind of started doing it.

"I don't know how it's going to look on matches obviously, because it's totally different story," Swiatek said. "I was feeling a little bit rusty in Tokyo because after that reset, after three weeks without playing tournaments, you can feel like that a little bit.

"But, yeah, it doesn't really matter for me. I'll just do my best no matter what."

wtatennis.com