Ige Swiatek needs Coco Gauff’s help to reach WTA finals

Update

Barbora Krejcikova defeated Coco Gauff in straight sets: 7-5, 6-4. Following the defeat, Iga Swiatek is officially eliminated from the group stage of the WTA Finals. Below is a video of Swiatek studying tiebreakers.

Thursday marks the final day of the group stage of the WTA Finals. While Iga Swiatek’s dominant performance against Daria Kasatkina was not a surprise, her precarious position in the tournament will shock some tennis fans.

Kasatkina was given the difficult task of replacing Jessica Pegula at the last minute after the six seed was eliminated with a result knee injury. Swiatek easily beat Kasatkina in two sets: 6-1, 6-0.

Swiatek was unable to avenge her loss to Pegula in the US Open quarterfinals, setting off a series of events that included a two-month break and a sudden change of coach. But she looked dominant in just her third match since September.

Swiatek defeated Kasatkina in 53 minutes to improve to 2-1 in the group stage of the WTA round-robin finals. However, Swiatek is not yet guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.

Coco Gauff defeated Swiatek in straight sets on Tuesday, and Swiatek now needs Gauff’s help to advance. If Gauff loses to Barbora Krejcikova today, Swiatek will be out of the tournament.

Gauff is currently 2-0 in the WTA Finals with impressive wins over Pegula and Swiatek. However, Gauff has only faced Krejcikova once before, and that was a loss in the quarterfinals of the 2021 French Open. Of course, three years is a long time ago in tennis, and Gauff is the clear favorite in today’s match.

Swiatek cannot finish higher than second place in the WTA rankings at the end of the year. However, she can still repeat the WTA Finals title. Today it all starts with some help from Gauff. If Swiatek makes the playoffs, she will need to continue to play at a high level to pull off an incredible comeback.

Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated. Submit to SI all the most important news from sports.