Thursday marks the final day of the Group Stage at the WTA Finals. While Iga Swiatek’s dominant play against Daria Kasatkina was unsurprising, her precarious position in the tournament is shocking to some tennis fans.

Kasatkina was given the difficult task of filling in for Jessica Pegula at the last moment after the six-seed dropped out with a knee injury. Swiatek easily defeated Kasatkina in straight sets: 6-1, 6-0.

Swiatek did not get to avenge her US Open quarterfinal loss to Pegula, which set off a series of events that included two months off and a sudden coaching change. But she did look dominant in just her third match since September.

Swiatek took out Kasatkina in 53 minutes and improved to 2-1 in the round-robin-style Group Stage of the WTA Finals. However, Swiatek is still not yet guaranteed a spot in the semifinals.

Coco Gauff defeated Swiatek in straight sets on Tuesday, and now Swiatek needs Gauff’s help to advance. If Gauff loses to Barbora Krejcikova later today, then Swiatek is eliminated from the tournament.

So far, Gauff is 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 2021 French Open quarterfinals. Of course, three years is ancient history in tennis, and Gauff is the heavy favorite in today’s match.

Swiatek cannot finish higher than No. 2 in the WTA year-end rankings. However, she can still repeat as the WTA Finals champion. It just starts with some help from Gauff today. If Swiatek does advance to the knock-out round, she will need to continue playing at a high level to pull off the incredible comeback.

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