After Ashleigh Barty’s sudden retirement last April, Iga Swiatek was thrust unexpectedly into the world no. 1 spot. During Swiatek 75-week reign as world no. 1, she won three Grand Slam titles, engineered a historic 37-match win streak, and single-handedly forced the rest of the players to hit the practice court.
But Iga Swiatek lost her place at US Open to Aryna Sabalenka and since then she had lost four tournament matches, including the defeat to Jelena Ostapenko. Nevertheless, Swiatek seems to have picked up form again by winning the China Open beating Liudmila Samsonova 6-2, 6-2 in the final, after ending Coco Gauff’s 16-game winning streak in the semifinals.
What did Iga Swiatek learn after China Open triumph?
Iga Swiatek has stated that her success in Beijing after a disappointing result at the US Open taught her a lesson for life. World no. 2 dominated Samsonova in the China Open final, winning the battle and the championship 6-2, 6-2.
After the triumph, Iga Swiatek told the Beijing press about the lesson she gained from the victory: “This tournament will give me confidence for the rest of my career. It teaches me that there are always possibilities to surpass yourself. Sometimes it is quite simple, but we complicate things. I am very happy that I stayed focused on the hard work. It has paid off in the end. I am happy that after the US Open I have gone back to the fundamentals & hard work on my tennis. I will continue doing it. Winning this trophy teaches me a lesson for the rest of my life.”
“I would say the overall state that I kind of had for a couple of weeks,” Swiatek said to WTA. “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 felt really anxious. I felt like usually, after feeling down, I tend to bounce back.”
Iga Swiatek captured 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 to Cincinnati. In the final, Swiatek hit zero unforced errors. The win was her 63rd of the season, the most on tour.
Iga Swiatek beat Liudmila Samsonova
Iga Swiatek won the China Open final with a near-perfect 6-2, 6-2 victory over Liudmila Samsonova on Sunday. Swiatek’s triumph in her first visit to China was her 16th career title and fifth of the season.
Both players stayed on serve in a steady opening until 22nd-ranked Samsonova double-faulted on her first break point of the match. Swiatek then held for 5-2 and broke Samsonova again to take the first set.
Iga Swiatek maintained the momentum into the second set to take an early break for 3-1 and quickly closed out her fifth title of the year after Samsonova put a drop shot into the net on match point. The second seed finished the match without tallying a single unforced error and her opponent praised her consistency.
Swiatek, who defeated Caroline Garcia in the quarterfinals has cut Aryna Sabalenka’s lead down to 630 points in the race to top the world rankings at the end of the year and could overtake her at the WTA Finals in Cancun.
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