The Polish Iga Swiatek, second in the world rankings, defeated the Tunisian Ons Jabeur 6-1, 6-2 this Friday to finish the group stage of the WTA Finals based in Cancun, Mexico.
Forced to win in two sets to qualify for the top four phase, Ons pressed and left a good impression in the first games, but missed three break opportunities, one in the third game, two in the fifth, which pay.
Iga Swiatek saved the first break point against him and in the fourth game he went ahead 3-1 on Ons' serve.
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Unlike his rival, Swiatek did take advantage of opportunities; In the sixth game he broke Jabeur's serve again and, upon confirmation, won a set with 91 percent of the points won on the first serve and two breaks on three occasions.
Iga started the second set with a break. He did not confirm, but again violated Ons' attack in the third game, from which he maintained his incisive play from the back of the court, broke in game seven and headed to victory.
"The conditions are difficult; they are not the most beautiful matches, but we are giving everything. I was focused without thinking about the wind and I was able to maintain the intensity; Ons is a great player and it was a difficult match," said Iga Swiatek, 22 years old.
A little earlier, the American Coco Gauff, US Open champion, resurfaced with everything against her to beat the Czech Marketa Vondrousova 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 and qualify for the semifinal.
Gauff, third in the world rankings, adopted an aggressive attitude, with numerous attempts at the net to break in the twelfth game of the second set, when Marketa served for the match and after that she was better to finish with two wins and one victory.
In a duel that began this Thursday, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, world number one, survived 36 unforced errors to beat the Kazakh Elena Rybakina 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 and enter the semifinal as second in the group, behind the American Jessica Pegula, who finished with three wins without losses.
This Saturday in the semifinals Iga Swiatek, second in the ranking, will face Sabalenka, first in one of the most anticipated matches of the 2023 season. In the other duel Pegula, fifth racket in the WTA, will play against her compatriot Gauff, third.
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