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The Chetumal Group at the WTA Finals still hasn’t had a semi-finalist emerge after the second round of round-robin matches played on Wednesday, in Cancun. Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur were the two winners who emerged at the end of the day, though.
In the first scheduled match, Swiatek got past Coco Gauff 6-0, 7-5 after almost 90 minutes of play. It was the fifth time the two were facing off against each other with Swiatek securing a 3-1 head-to-head in the first four matches they played previously.
Gauff, however, notched a memorable win over her higher-ranked rival in Cincinnati that proved to be a stepping stone for her winning the US Open, a few weeks later. In Mexico, however, Gauff never got a chance to push Swiatek’s game in the first set.
Swiatek won all six points on return played on the latter’s second serve. This, even as Swiatek could only manage to win two of six points played on her second serve. The Pole never once break point in the set and had 100% break-point conversion rate after making good of all three break points that came her way.
The second set saw Gauff get a break first, return it and then secure another break. The second service break gave her the chance to serve for the set in the 10th game but she didn’t even reach set point as Swiatek got the break back on the back of quadruple double faults from the third seed.
Swiatek didn’t look back in the match after that she raised double match points on Gauff’s serve in the 12th game, before going on to convert the first of the two.
WTA Finals: Ons Jabeur gets going in Mexico!
Meanwhile, Jabeur posted a 6-4, 6-3 win in 89 minutes against the seventh-seeded Marketa Vondrousova.
The Czech hit 11 double faults across the match and won only 38% of her second-serve points. The Tunisian won 64% of her first-serve points and 50% points on her second serve. The match featured multiple break points. Jabeur faced nine of which she saved six while converting six of 13 break points that emerged on Vondrousova’s serve.
The last round-robin match of the Chetumal Group to be played on Friday will determine the second set of semi-finalists at the WTA Finals. Iga Swiatek currently is the atop of the table and will advance as the first semi-finalist if she were to score a win over Ons Jabeur.
If Marketa Vondrousova were to lose to Coco Gauff, it would mean that the left-hander would exit the tournament along with Jabeur with Gauff securing her place in the semis.