Wta Finals: Swiatek beats Pegula in the final

Not a match, but an execution. The final of the WTA Finals in Cancun was an incredible show of strength on the part of Iga Swiatek, who won the teachers’ tournament for the first time in her career and almost angrily took back the world throne from Aryna Sabalenka, who had destroyed just a few hours earlier in the semi-final. A final, the one on Mexican soil, which ended 6-1 6-0, lasted only 59 minutes and where the Pole scored eleven games in a row against a helpless and helpless Jessica Pegula, who had also played a great tournament. All in vain: Swiatek was simply unplayable, as she had been many times in 2022, the year of her ascension to the world throne after Barty’s retirement, where she had also put in a sensational series of 37 consecutive victories, one of the longest in the history of the WTA.

record

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And speaking of records, no final of the WTA Finals has ever ended with such a clear score: two precedents that are close, the match in 1983 between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert and the one in 2003 between Kim Clijsters and Amelie Mauresmo, both of which ended 6-2 6-0 in favor of the Czechoslovakian and the Belgian respectively. The final act in Cancun, however, was more reminiscent of the one between Steffi Graf and Natasha Zvereva at Roland Garros 1988, when the German destroyed the then Soviet (then Belarusian) 6-0 6-0 in 32 minutes, inflicting on her the worst humiliation in history in a final act of a slam tournament. It’s useless to talk about the match: there was a sort of match until the first set was 1-1, then Swiatek changed gear and started grinding out her deadly tennis.

cyclone

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Pegula first suffered this cyclone and then simply got lost, unable to counteract the excessive power of the Pole at all: at a certain point in the second set the American visually wanted to end this massacre as soon as possible, say goodbye to everyone and return in the locker rooms. Only applause for Swiatek, who has suffered throughout the year, with the burden of always having to continuously prove something and with the burden of having to repeat that extraordinary 2022, which had earned her two Slams and the world throne. A throne that she had lost at the US Open to the detriment of Sabalenka, who seemed to have to end the year as world no. 1, and who instead was surpassed by Iga on the most beautiful moment. The challenge for the top of the ranking, for now, with the Pole at 9295 and the Belarusian at 9050, ends here for this year, will undoubtedly continue in 2024. Now head to the Billie Jean King Cup (Italy will also be there) and then everyone on holiday. Upon their return, they all hope to have better support from the WTA, which is in extreme financial and organizational difficulty, as the Finals sadly showed to the whole world.