Iga Swiatek admits she ‘didn’t know’ ahead of WTA Finals exit

Iga Swiatek has been knocked out of the WTA Finals, with the World No.2 admitting that she ‘didn’t know’ about the stipulations following her second win in Riyadh.

Swiatek thrashed alternate Daria Kasatkina, 6-1 6-0, to win her second match at the year-end tournament in just 53 minutes.

After losing her second round-robin match to Coco Gauff, Swiatek seemed pleased with her response, “It was a pretty solid performance from me. I’m happy that I did everything to win it and glad I have two wins in the group now.

“I feel like I was spinning the ball well and picking the right shots to play faster and being solid.”

Despite the emphatic victory, Swiatek’s win did not actually have any bearing on her advancing to the semi-finals, which was dependent on the following match between Coco Gauff and Barbora Krejcikova.

If Krejcikova was to beat Gauff then Swiatek would be eliminated, something that the Pole did not seem aware of until she was told in her post-match press conference.

“I didn’t know that this is the case,” admitted Swiatek. “I’m professional enough to always give 100 percent no matter what the stakes are. If I’m not going to play semis then I’ll have a couple of days off.

“I can’t take back time and play better in the match that I played against Coco. I won two matches in the group, so I guess I did everything I could to be there.”

Iga Swiatek only realised after her win that the result had no bearing on her qualifying through to the next round of the WTA Finals 😅#BBCTennis pic.twitter.com/oWUAXYiYkt

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) November 8, 2024

Krejcikova did go onto beat Gauff in straight sets to win the Orange Group, meaning that defending champion Swiatek was eliminated from the WTA Finals.

Swiatek will now have a few extra days to rest before heading to Malaga to represent Poland at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals next week.

The fantastic four in Riyadh…😤✨

Semifinal singles play will begin tomorrow not before 6pm local time.#WTAFinalsRiyadh pic.twitter.com/9mcGE2fIDj

— wta (@WTA) November 7, 2024

Inside the baseline…

The format of round-robin can bring up many different scenarios that players are not used to, as the majority of the year when they lose they are out. This was definitely the case for Iga Swiatek, who has become only the fourth woman in the last 21 years of the WTA Finals to win two matches and not qualify for the semi-finals, with that straight sets defeat to Coco Gauff really costing her in the end. That all being said, it has still been a fairly positive comeback for Swiatek and a decent start to her new coaching relationship with Wim Fissette, with the serve looking particularly impressive.

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