Swiatek defeats Sabalenka in Stuttgart to win fourth straight title

World No.1 Iga Swiatek just keeps on winning. The Polish star won her fourth consecutive title and her 23rd straight match with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over No.3 seed Aryna Sabalenka in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final on Sunday.

Swiatek made her Stuttgart tournament debut a triumphant one by completing her week with a commanding 84-minute victory over the fourth-ranked Sabalenka. Swiatek collected her seventh career Hologic WTA Tour singles title.

Iga yet to be stopped: Swiatek’s winning streak began with a title run at WTA 1000 Doha, and she remained undefeated at WTA 1000 events this year by sweeping through the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami.

Two additional wins for her Polish squad at Billie Jean King Cup qualifying gave Swiatek a 19-match winning streak coming into the indoor clay of WTA 500 Stuttgart.

Liudmila Samsonova pushed Swiatek to the limit in Saturday’s semifinals, snapping the top seed’s run of 28 straight sets won in the process. But Swiatek pulled through that match in three hours to set up a meeting against Sabalenka, where the No.1 once again swept through a final.

After the match, Swiatek said joining the other players in the list of longest win streaks since 2000 is "pretty surreal, honestly. A few years ago I wouldn’t even think about being in this kind of group.

"For sure right now I need to work harder to keep this streak, but I’m just going to take it match by match, and I’m super proud of myself and really satisfied. These are the kind of players who were role models when I was growing up."

Aside from losing her first final to Polona Hercog as a 17-year-old in 2019, Swiatek has been dominant in finals. She has won seven finals in a row since then without dropping a set and has lost no more than five games total in each of those championship matches.

After dropping her first meeting with Sabalenka at last year's Akron WTA Finals, Swiatek has won their following two clashes in straight sets.

"I worked hard this week to adjust properly and to play my best tennis on this surface," Swiatek said. "I’m pretty proud of myself and pretty proud of my team because basically after yesterday’s match, it wasn’t easy to reset physically and mentally and be ready for today."

Tale of the final: Swiatek had to save a break point in the opening game with a rally crosscourt backhand, but she methodically moved through the set from there, surviving a patch of brilliant Sabalenka backhands as the Pole picked off big points in a handful of tight games. An untimely double fault by Sabalenka on set point ceded the opener to Swiatek.

The 2021 Stuttgart runner-up Sabalenka toughed out a service hold from break point down at 1-1 in the second set, deploying multiple forehand winners down the line. But Swiatek found perfect placement on her shots down the stretch, grabbing the last four games to finish off the final and grasp her latest trophy.

All told, Swiatek’s 17 winners outpaced Sabalenka’s 13, and the top seed won 77 percent of her first-service points. She was never broken on the day.

Krawczyk, Schuurs win doubles title

No.2 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs captured the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix doubles title later on Sunday with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over No.1 seeds Coco Gauff and Zhang Shuai.

The champions fought off six break points in their last two service games before prevailing in 1 hour and 19 minutes of play to win their first doubles title as a team.

The wins marks the 15th career doubles title for Schuurs and the seventh for Krawczyk. They paired up for the first time at Indian Wells last month, and after starting their partnership with a 2-3 record, they knocked off four wins in a row to capture the crown in Stuttgart.

"I think we’re both really happy with the improvements we’ve had the past few weeks," Krawczyk said after the final. "I think we’re just really thrilled, and we’re hoping to keep it going in the next few tournaments."

Schuurs added: "Today, I think we stepped on court and we said, ‘OK, we want to enjoy, and we’re gonna go for it.’ ... I’m happy that we won this title, so at least it’s something that we know is in us, and we can do it every week."