Swiatek surges past Gauff into Dubai final

Iga Swiatek continued her fine run of form with her sixth career defeat of Coco Gauff

Tennis – WTA 1000 – Dubai Tennis Championships – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates – February 24, 2023 Poland’s Iga Swiatek in action during her semi final match against Coco Gauff of the U.S. (AI/Reuters/Panoramic)

Carrie Dunn

February 24, 2023

It was harder work than the scoreline might suggest, but world No 1 Iga Swiatek continued her tremendous record against Coco Gauff with a 6-4, 6-2 win to reach the final of the Dubai Open.

The Pole went into the encounter with an impressive 5-0 head-to-head record over Gauff – the most wins she has over any opponent – plus a 5-0 record at WTA 1000 semi-finals.

She now heads into tomorrow knowing that she has never yet lost a WTA 1000 final, having won on all five of her previous appearances.

“Coco is a great player and I knew it was going to be tough especially after last year, we played like five times – it’s always tough, you don’t know if you’re going to see something new or so. I just wanted to focus on myself and keep going and be consistent with my tactics,” Swiatek said afterwards.

Our first finalist in Dubai ✨

No.1 seed @iga_swiatek moves past Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first final at the @DDFTennis! pic.twitter.com/DHNV0aQway
— wta (@WTA) February 24, 2023

This was Gauff’s second career WTA 1000 semi-final, following her progress to the final four in Rome in 2021 – where she also lost to Swiatek in straight sets. In fact, the American has still not taken a set from Swiatek across their six meetings thus far.

There were signs of a more competitive match in store when Gauff broke the Swiatek serve to close the gap to 5-3 in the first set – only the fourth time she has managed that particular feat.

And she fended off set points in her following service game, only for Swiatek to wrap it up after 51 minutes on her own serve, and her fifth set point.

Two double-faults from Swiatek allowed Gauff to narrow the gap to 6-4, 4-2 in the second set, but the 21-year-old promptly broke straight back to give herself the chance to serve it out.