No stopping Swiatek – world No 1 claims career title 11 in San Diego
Iga Swiatek returned to the winner’s circle in full force in San Diego this week, as she defeated Donna Vekic for the title.
Iga Swiatek, San Diego 2022 | © AP Photo/Gregory Bull/SIPA
Iga Swiatek’s 2022 victory tour continues unabated. The only thing that might stop the Pole from racking up wins on the tour is the month of November, when the WTA season comes to a close.
Meanwhile, it is business as usual for the world No1. On Sunday at the San Diego Open she powered past qualifier Donna Vekic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to book her eighth title of the season, and the 11th of her career.
In a week that saw Swiatek increase her winning streak against top-10 opponents to 11 with wins over Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the Pole provided the perfect response to a difficult loss to Barbora Krejcikova in last week’s Ostrava final.
Swiatek’s win total hits 64, and the bagel total hits 21!
The numbers that define Swiatek’s season are eye-popping no matter where you look.
Swiatek locked up her 64th win of the season (against 8 losses), and improved to 16-4 in three-setters by battling past Vekic on Sunday. The 21-year-old even dished out her 21st 6-0 set in the decider – the largest number of bagel sets put forth by a WTA player since Serena Williams in 2013.
Swiatek said she just needed to keep her cool and trust her instincts against Vekic after she lost a set for the third time this week in San Diego.
“I wanted to give it all-in, and knowing how Donna can serve I just wanted to be more loosened up on my return games, and just not think – use my intuition a little bit and just fight for every ball,” Swiatek said.
Too good in the decider
Swiatek dominated the third set, dropping just five points against Vekic, who fought valiantly to reach the final from qualifying and notched wins over Maria Sakkari, Karolina Pliskova, Aryna Sabalenka and Danielle Collins in the main draw.
On a day in which Vekic had to complete her semi-final win over Collins due to the fact that it was held over by rain on Saturday evening, Swiatek used her physical advantage and wore Vekic down.
“It was a really tight match and pretty long, I think both of us felt the intensity for sure, so at the end I wanted to really be the one who is going to play the last ball in,” she said. “It happened a few times, so it gave me a little confidence.”
