By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday November 6, 2022
Sabalenka ended Swiatek's 15-match winning streak against the top-10 with a magnificent display in Fort Worth.
Photo Source: Getty
Aryna Sabalenka has taken her share of lumps from Iga Swiatek in 2022 (there aren't many who haven't), including a heartbreaking defeat at the US Open, when she lost 16 of the final 20 points against the Pole in the semifinals after holding a 4-2 lead in the decider.
Tonight in Fort Worth, faced with a similar challenge from the 21-year-old juggernaut, Sabalenka flicked the switch and powered to one of the biggest wins of her career as she ended Swiatek’s season with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 triumph.
After Swiatek tried to recreate the magic of her comeback against Sabalenka at the US Open, the more determined Belarusian stayed present and rocked past the 21-year-old for her third career win over a reigning World No.1.
“I just said that I have to stay aggressive and I have to stay in the moment,” she said after setting Monday's final with Caroline Garcia, who took out Maria Sakkari, 6-3,6-2 in Sunday’s first semifinal. “That's it.
“I think this kind of mentality really helped me tonight because the only thing I had in my mind was just to make her work and that's it, and I think only because of that was able to show unbelievable tennis tonight and actually get this win.”
It’s a milestone moment for Sabalenka, who becomes just the third player this century to defeat the tour’s No.1, No.2 and No.3-ranked players at the same event.
Sabalenka had lost four straight to Swiatek in 2022, but found another level to hand the tour's most dominant player her ninth loss of the season. She was ferocious with the forehand and tilted the court in her favor by regularly beating Swiatek to the punch off of that wing.
Swiatek was only able to win 53 percent of her first-serve points against Sabalenka and surrendered six breaks of serve. In the final set she didn’t muster a break point as the 24-year-old reeled off the final five games.
A BRILLIANT SEASON GOES INTO THE TENNIS ANNALS
The loss doesn’t dilute the brilliance of what Swiatek has achieved in 2022. She won two majors, became the youngest player to earn multiple major titles since 2006 (Sharapova) at Roland-Garros, racked up a 37-match winning streak, and claimed four 1000-level titles.
Her run of 15 consecutive victories over top-10 players, which lasted from January until this evening, is tied for the longest such streak this century (with Justine Henin, 2007).
When Ash Barty suddenly announced her retirement in late March, Swiatek instantly took her game to the next level and became the tour's player to beat.
She rose to No.1 on April 4 and never ceased to expand her lead against the competition. Swiatek finishes the season with 11,085 ranking points, which is the second-most points year-end points earned in a season since the rankings began in 1975 (Serena Williams, 2013, 13,260).
But Sunday wasn't her night.
"Aryna just played better, you could see that,” Swiatek said, according to WTA Insider. “In the second set I wanted to kind of overpower her, but in third I felt like it's not my kind of game. I feel like I was playing too risky.
"And in the third, she for sure used her chances and she served really well."
Swiatek will look forward to a long, well-deserved period of rest and relaxation.
“This season has been so intense and I'm so proud of myself that I could play so well till the end. I'm happy that it's done,” she said.
Sabalenka will look forward to one more chance at a breakthrough title before she hangs up the racquets for the winter. She says her impending final with Garcia should produce plenty of high octane tennis from both sides of the court.
“I think she's a different player right now,” she said. “She has more confidence in her game and it's going to be a different match. I expect a lot of good serves, a lot of good winners and again, I will go with the same mindset – I'll make her word for it.”
The pair have split four previous meetings with Garcia taking their lone 2022 encounter in three sets in the semifinals at Cincinnati.