© Iga Swiatek/ X
Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff emerged as the victors from the first two round-robin matches played in the Chetumal Group at the WTA Finals in Cancun, on Monday. Both won their respective matches in straight sets although the margin of each win’s was different.
First, Swiatek prevailed 7-6(3), 6-0 against Marketa Vondrousova in an hour and 39 minutes. The Pole made the match look quite an easy outing for herself in the end but it took her a while to get herself going, especially in the opening set.
The Czech began the match by outplaying the world no. 2 and quickly made herself comfortable with a 5-2 lead in the set. But from the eighth game onwards, the match saw a change in momentum in Swiatek’s favour and the latter never once looked back in the proceedings thereafter.
Swiatek first levelled the opening set by winning four games in a row to pull the score to six-all. Then, in the tie-break, she lost merely a trio of points before she captured the set. The second set progressed way worse for Vondrousova who never looked to have recovered from how the opener had slipped away from her hands.
In the second set, Vondrousova won just one of eight points played on her first serve and one of six points played on her second serve. Swiatek never once faced a break point in the set and converted three of five break points that she brought up on her opponent’s serve to seal the match for herself.
WTA Finals: Two colossus, Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek to go head-to-head
Meanwhile, in the second round-robin match, Gauff seemed to have picked up the pace from where Swiatek had left it on the court, earlier. The American rushed and raced against Ons Jabeur to get a 6-0, 6-1 win.
The match finished with three minutes still left to go in the hour. Gauff saved three break points she faced while converting five break points on Jabeur’s serve. The world no. 3 won 13 of 22 points played on return on the Tunisian’s first serve and 12 of 18 played on return on the latter’s second serve.
For the match, the 19-year-old won 58 points to the sixth seed’s 28. Courtesy of such powerful showing to get herself going at the WTA Finals, Coco Gauff’s now placed first at the top of the Group with Swiatek being placed in the second place. One of the two round-robin matches of the Group to be played on Wednesday will be Gauff versus Swiatek.
