Iga Swiatek wins 11th Career title, 8th of the season in San Diego

 

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.

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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.

Iga Swiatek reaches her 9th final of the year in San Diego

 

Displaying the resourcefulness and resilience you might expect from the World No.1, Iga Swiatek came back to defeat Jessica Pegula 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 to advance to Sunday’s final at the San Diego Open.

Swiatek will meet the winner of Saturday's second semifinal between Danielle Collins and qualifier Donna Vekic.

Swiatek won her 63rd match of the 2022 season, equaling the 2016 total of Angelique Kerber for the most Hologic WTA Tour victories in the past six years. Swiatek, who defeated Pegula for the fourth time this year, will become the fourth woman to finish the year with more than 10,000 points in the WTA Tour rankings, after Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.

Swiatek, 21, is now 23-1 in the United States this season.

There were three breaks of serve in the first set and a continuous shifting of momentum. After back-to-back breaks, Pegula faced a third but saved two break points and leveled the match at 4-all when Swiatek missed a forehand wide.

In the next game, with Swiatek facing a break point, she double-faulted off the top of the net and Pegula went on to serve out the first set, prevailing on another Swiatek forehand that sailed wide.

After play was suspended for more than an hour because of rain, Swiatek came out firing and took a 3-0 lead, an advantage she never relinquished. She converted her second set point with a ringing forehand that clipped the line -- and the match headed into the decisive third set.

Serving at 2-all in the third, Swiatek saved all three break points against her -- and then broke Pegula to take a 4-2 lead. A tired-looking forehand into the net from Pegula sent Swiatek into her ninth final of the year.

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Make that 63 wins for the year (now tied with Angie Kerber from 2016). 9th final, 41st hard court win. And I believe her 10th comeback from a set down this season. 

Also the first time she has reached back to back finals  in back to back weeks.

Simply Iga Swiatek living up and continually cementing her World #1 status. Astounding. 

This is the kind of year you usually see from greats like Roger Federer, Rafa, or Serena. To have Iga accomplishing this at just 21 is extraordinary. 

And the fact that she's the first player from Poland to write herself into the tennis history books just makes it all the sweeter.  

My Polish pride has been soaring all year and it feels wonderful. 

These are moments we never expected, but ones that so many Polish sports and tennis fans alike have been waiting and hoping all their lives to see. 

Iga Swiatek reaches 11th semi-final & 62nd win of the year in San Diego

 

World No.1 Iga Swiatek advanced to the semifinals of the San Diego Open after a dominant 6-0, 6-3 win over No.8 Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals. The victory extended Swiatek's undefeated record against Gauff to 4-0 and improved her record against Top 10 opposition to 11-1 this season.

Into her third consecutive semifinal, Swiatek will face World No.6 Jessica Pegula in Saturday's semifinal.

Three thoughts on Swiatek's clinical victory:

Swiatek's offense proves the difference: Swiatek and Gauff are able to go toe-to-toe when it comes to court speed, court coverage, and defense. But the biggest difference in their games at the moment is offense, the area where Swiatek has improved the most in 2022.

In their third meeting of the season and second on hard court, Swiatek's heavy forehand methodically broke down Gauff's shakier forehand. Gauff hit 11 unforced errors on that side in the opening set. Swiatek hit none. When Gauff tried to pressure Swiatek by coming into the net, the Pole passed her comfortably and regularly. As she has done to all manner of opponents in 2022, Swiatek took away any and all zones of comfort for Gauff, who found herself reacting as opposed to controlling any portion of the match.

Swiatek quickly pocketed the first eight games of the match before Gauff held serve to 2-1 in the second set, but ever the front-runner, Swiatek never looked back. In an efficient 65-minute effort, Swiatek finished the match with 13 winners to 9 unforced errors while breaking Gauff five times. Gauff hit 17 winners to 26 unforced errors and could not convert on the three break-point chances she earned.

It's a difficult match-up for Gauff at this point in her career. She has not won more than four games in any of the six sets they played this year.

Not even jet lag can put the No.1 off her game: Swiatek's decision to play San Diego right after a physically and emotionally tough week in Ostrava was a surprising one to many. Never one to flinch at a test, Swiatek wanted to see how she would react to the quick turnaround and change in timezone and conditions.

She's passed that test with flying colors. Dealt a tough draw, Swiatek handled Tokyo finalist Zheng Qinwen in three sets in her opening match and followed it up with a statement performance to beat Gauff. In every tournament at which she has played Gauff, Swiatek has gone on to win the title, having beaten the American at 2021 Rome, 2022 Miami, and 2022 Roland Garros.

The victory is Swiatek's 62nd of the season and 40th on hard court. Having won Indian Wells, Miami, and the US Open, the 21-year-old is now 22-1 in the United States this season. The first set against Gauff was her 20th 6-0 "bagel" set of the season, the most since Serena Williams posted 25 in her 2013 season.

Swiatek's Roland Garros redux continues: To win her eighth title of the season, Swiatek is going to have to go through Zheng, Gauff, and next Pegula. She beat all three in Paris to win her second major in the spring.

"I've played [Swiatek] so often that I kind of know what to expect," Pegula said. "She plays super athletic, aggressive, defends really well. She does everything at a really high level. She plays a little bit different than the girls and sometimes that can be the difference. You're not used to playing someone like her.

"I'd like to say maybe it's better playing her at the end of the year, but I don't know. We'll see how the match goes."

Swiatek and Pegula will lock horns for the fourth time this season. Swiatek has swept their sets, winning in the Miami semifinals, Roland Garros quarterfinals, and US Open quarterfinals last month.

"Jessie is one of the most solid players on tour so it's always hard," Swiatek said. "Our matches are always physical and really tight. Even though sometimes the scores are one way, you can see during the games we always have deuces and any point can matter.

"I'm pretty happy that we're going to play against each other because it's a test for me of where my level is because she's really, really solid."

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That's 62 wins for the year,11th semi final, 20th bagel set, (also has 20 6-1 sets).

40th hardcourt win (22-1 in the U.S.)

First woman since Serena in 2013 with 10,000 ranking points (4th overall since intro of computerized ranking).

Just Iga doing Iga things :)

Iga Swiatek makes it 61 wins for the season in San Diego

World No.1 Iga Swiatek opened her San Diego Open champion with a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 victory over No.28 Zheng Qinwen. Swiatek will face No.8 Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Playing her first match since the Ostrava final, Swiatek weathered both the rainy conditions and Zheng's heavy power game to earn her tour-leading 61st win of the year. San Diego will be her 12th quarterfinal of the season, also a tour-leading mark.

"Qinwen, she has a different game style because she's playing topspin on her forehand and the ball is flying pretty high," Swiatek said. "So today I had to adjust to that.

"But overall, the first matches of any tournament is about adjusting to the conditions we have here."

After a short rain delay, Swiatek pocketed the opening set with solid baseline play, absorbing Zheng's heavy pace and using her courtcraft to open up space on the court. After saving the only break point she faced in the set, Swiatek broke with a clean forehand return at 4-all and served out the opener. She out-hit Zheng with 11 winners to 6 and limited Zheng's second-serve success to 40%.

The second set went with serve before Zheng found herself facing multiple break points at 4-all. Zheng saved all five break points she faced before holding to 5-4, saving the first two with clean winners and engineering an audacious serve-and-volley play on the third. In the next game, Zheng finally broke Swiatek's serve to force the Pole into her third consecutive three-set match.

Turning point: Zheng earned an early break point at 1-0 in the final set, but Swiatek fought it off with just her second ace of the day. Swiatek went on to hold and broke Zheng for the first time since the first set to lead 2-1. With the lead in hand, Swiatek broke once more and took care of her serve to close out the win.

The victory moves Swiatek to 14-4 in three-set matches this season. She has not lost in the opening round of a tournament since 2021 Cincinnati, over a year ago.

Stat of the match: With titles in Indian Wells, Miami, and the US Open, she is now 21-1 in the United States this season.

The French Open final rematch is on: Swiatek will face No.8 Gauff in a rematch of the French Open final. It will be the third meeting between the two junior contemporaries but their first on a hard court. Swiatek has won all four sets they've played, first in Rome last year and Paris this spring.

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Officially the player with most matches won on tour this year (since Caro Wozniacki with 60 in 2017). 

2 more wins and she'll equal Angie Kerber in 2016. Unreal.

Iga Swiatek feeling fresh after Ostrava and back at it in San Diego

World No.1 Iga Swiatek would have been forgiven if she opted out of this week's San Diego Open. The 21-year-old put in a grueling and emotional effort at the AGEL Open in Ostrava last weekend to make her tour-leading eighth final of the season, narrowly losing out to former No.2 Barbora Krejcikova.

But withdrawing from San Diego never crossed Swiatek's mind.

"Even though I played two really long matches there I feel pretty fine physically," Swiatek told reporters Thursday in San Diego, where she is set to play her opening match. "The thing is that right now I feel more fresh because I had more time off after the US Open. So going into Ostrava I knew I could give everything and go all in."

"It's not that bad. It's the 'nice' jet lag, coming this way."

San Diego will be Swiatek's last regular-season tournament. She will stay in the United States after the tournament to practice and train for the WTA Finals in Fort Worth, Texas, which begins Oct. 31.

"It makes sense because I just have to have more matches before the WTA Finals," Swiatek said. "It would be pretty bad if I would have three weeks without matches because I would be a little bit not in the rhythm.

Swiatek took her tour-leading tally to 60 match-wins in Ostrava, becoming the first player to cross the 60-match mark since 2017. With seven titles under her belt, including Roland Garros and the US Open, it would be understandable if the World No.1 was feeling the wear and tear of her season.

Not so.

"Honestly, I feel great and that's weird because I thought after so many matches I was going to feel a lack of motivation, or I thought that if you're winning too much you're not going to have another goal to reach," Swiatek said.

"But honestly, it's the opposite. I'm even more fresh because winning keeps me really positive. I don't waste my energy and time coming back to this positive mindset. I feel like I can be in the rhythm and do my job on court and play. I feel really good."

Being self-motivated has meant eschewing the need for explicit goals to stay motivated. Swiatek does not need a carrot to chase. Her motivation comes purely from within. The result is a fresh mind and body as she finishes out the season.

"Right now I don't even feel like I need goals because I just really enjoy being on court and competing," Swiatek said. "So I'm just doing that. I'm not overanalyzing. I think that's pretty cool because last year I was analyzing everything and it made me really nervous before the WTA Finals. So this time I'm doing it a little bit differently.

"Right now I still find it pretty weird that I won the US Open and sometimes it just hits me out of nowhere and I'm like, that's cool."

Swiatek will open her tournament against No.28 Zheng Qinwen on Thursday.

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Williams sisters withdraw from San Diego

Not really a big surprise there, but boy did they piss off the officials of the tournament. I really think they mean it I don't think the Williams sisters will be showing up there next year.

Now of course sometimes you can't help if you have injuries but you really shouldn't be making any such commitments if you know you're not a hundred percent.

That's the Williams sisters for you they have a history of entering the tournaments and not showing up in the end. As you can probably tell I'm not really a big Williams sisters fan, I don't mind Venus but I think Serena has an enormous ego.

I'm sort of sorry to hear Davenport won't play either but I guess she wants to be 100% for the U.S. Open.

Oh well, at least this leaves the field open for Martina to dominate, and bring her ranking up some more so she can be back in the top ten:D. And I really think she can do it. I'm keeping my fingers crossed and wishing her lots of luck.

The draw is already out and it doesn't look too bad for her, well except a possible clash with Kim Clijsters in the quarters again. Geez, how many times a year are these two going to meet? lol.

Anyway here is an article with all the details on the Williams withdraw which includes the comments from the officials:
http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060729-9999-1s29acura.html