Iga Swiatek wins 2023 WTA Finals and reclaims No. 1 world ranking with victory over Jessica Pegula
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Updated 07/11/2023 at 14:59 GMT
Iga Swiatek beat Aryna Sabalenka over the course of two days to reach the WTA Finals, putting her through to the final against Jessica Pegula. The 22-year-old Pole had little difficulty in claiming victory in straight sets, and not only does it give her the title for the first time in her career, but it returns her to the No. 1 spot she lost to Sabalenka earlier in 2023.
Swiatek breaks Serena's record & Back to No.1
Iga Swiatek turned in a fine performance to beat Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-0 to win the WTA Finals, re-capturing the world No. 1 ranking in the process.
The Pole needed to defeat her American opponent on Monday in Cancun to regain top spot in the standings after losing it following the US Open to Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.
Swiatek triumphed over Sabalenka in the semi-final that was hampered by rain as it began on Saturday, before eventually being completed on Sunday.
That saw the final moved to Monday, where she faced Pegula, who had been hitherto impressive in the season-ending tournament.
In her semi-final match-up Pegula beat US Open winner and regular doubles partner Coco Gauff, but she was unable to handle a rampant Swiatek.
The 22-year-old Pole began strongly against her opponent - currently ranked No. 5 in the world - as she took the first set 6-1.
Swiatek then followed that up with an early break to go 3-0 clear, and she was even more dominant than she had been in the first set, bagelling her rival to complete a 6-1 6-0 victory in just 59 minutes.
She is now on an 11-match winning streak having gone 6-0 in Beijing before the season finale here, and racked up a 5-0 record in Mexico after winning each of her matches along the way.
Speaking after the match, beaten finalist Pegula praised her opponent, saying: "I want to say congrats to Iga and your team and family on an amazing year. Ending the year No. 1 and winning this tournament. You continue to push me to be a better player every year. It makes me a much better player. I really appreciate that.”
Swiatek thanked her fans in the crowd, saying: "Thank you for all these Polish flags and all these Polish people coming to every tournament, but also from many countries.
"Every year I feel I have more and more support and it really keeps me pushing for more, so thank you guys."
She added: "Even though this week wasn’t easy, you made it special for us. Jess, I want to congratulate you for the whole season. Playing against you has never been easy. Hopefully we will both progress and play many more finals together.”
After winning back her status as No. 1, she then looked ahead to more success.
She acknowledged, "the team that’s been with me the whole season. We had many ups and downs. This is for sure an up. We will for sure have many more if we keep working like that."
For Swiatek it didn't just represent getting back to the top of the rankings, but it was also her first win in the WTA Finals, having reached the semi-final stages last year and the round-robin stage the year before.
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