Google News Iga Swiatek beats Pegula and triumphs at the WTA Finals: the highlights
by LORENZO CIOTTI
Iga Swiatek beat Jessica Pegula, triumphing at the WTA Finals in Cancun and becoming the new WTA world no.1 again. the Pole won at the end of an edition made dramatic by adverse weather conditions and the culpable delay with which the WTA assigned the tournament to the city of Cancun.
The Polish tennis player found a rather unique way to win the WTA Finals for the first time in her career and set a record that is difficult to even imagine. The Warsaw native dominated the tournament from the first match to the last and lost only 20 games on her way to the title: no one has done better than her since the Round-Robin format was introduced in 2003.
The point of reference, in this sense, was the 32 games left by Serena Williams in 2012. Swiatek canceled out a timid and lifeless Jessica Pegula in the final to prevail with a resounding 6-1, 6-0 in less than an hour of game.
The seventeenth trophy added to the showcase will allow the Pole to surpass Aryna Sabalenka and close the season at the top of the world rankings for the second consecutive season.
Swiatek overwhelms Pegula, the highlights
Considering the direct clashes that took place between the two protagonists in 2023, it was not easy to predict such an epilogue.
Pegula had in fact defeated Swiatek on two out of three occasions before taking the field in Mexico: at the United Cup and in Montreal. Swiatek took the lead in the fourth game by winning the backhand diagonal duel on the break point.
From then on, the 22-year-old took control of the exchanges and never allowed Pegula to get close in terms of both intensity and quality. The Pole adopted the same scheme used against Sabalenka; a scheme based on speed of movement and constant aggression from the baseline.
In the second set, the gap between Swiatek and Pegula even widened to a very heavy 6-0, the third inflicted by the tennis player born in 2001 on her opponents in Cancun. Swiatek is the youngest champion at the Finals since Petra Kvitova in 2011.
In doubles, Laura Siegemund and Vera Zvonareva triumphed, capable of beating the American Nicole Melichar-Martinez and the Australian Ellen Perez with a score of 6-4, 6-4.