Iga Swiatek took home her eighth title of the year, fending off a spirited effort by qualifier Donna Vekic on Sunday to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to win the San Diego Open.
The top seed Swiatek needed 1 hour and 47 minutes to earn the 11th singles title of her career with her tour-leading 64th match-win of the year, the most since Serena Williams won 78 matches in 2013 (including Billie Jean King Cup play).
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Swiatek improved to 24-1 win-loss record on U.S. soil in 2022. She adds the San Diego trophy to triumphs in the States at the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami, as well as her third career Grand Slam title at the US Open.
Vekic’s resurgent run came to an end, but it was her second match of the day.
Vekic’s semifinal was interrupted by rain Saturday night with the Croatian trailing Danielle Collins 4-2 in the third set, but she fought back, and Sunday closed out the match in a third-set tiebreak.
After winning her two qualifying matches, Vekic had defeated four straight Top 25 players in this week's main draw. But despite pushing Swiatek into a third set for the first time in their three meetings, overcoming the top seed was a step too far for Vekic.
Swiatek won 82 percent of her second-service points in the final, while Vekic only had a 39 percent success rate behind her own second serves. That helped Swiatek convert four of her six break points on the day.
An incredible week for @DonnaVekic 👏#SanDiegoOpen pic.twitter.com/Dm7qejyvzA
— wta (@WTA) October 17, 2022
Swiatek was the steadier player in the first set, drawing errors from Vekic to earn the only break at 4-2 en route to the one-set lead.
But Vekic’s aggressive play paid off in the second set, where she forced errors from the World No.1 with world-class backhands to earn the only break point of the set at 3-2. There, Vekic won a wild rally with a passing winner to break for 4-2, and she went on to take the set.
In the end, Swiatek came out firing in the third set, wrapping up lengthy rallies with pinpoint winners to improve to 3-0 against Vekic.
🏆😘😘🏆@JLPegula x @CocoGauff #SanDiegoOpen pic.twitter.com/FdAGaWTSW8
— wta (@WTA) October 16, 2022
Earlier on Sunday, No.1 seeds Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula overcame No.2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos 1-6, 7-5, [10-4] in a 1-hour and 20-minute final to capture the San Diego Open doubles title.
Gauff and Pegula had to play two full matches on Sunday to wrap up their week. They won their rain-postponed semifinal match against No.4 seeds Desirae Krawczyk and Demi Schuurs 6-3, 7-6(5) earlier in the day.
Add that to the list of achievements by the pair, including qualifying for the doubles field at the year-ending WTA Finals. Gauff and Pegula have teamed up to win four titles as a duo this year, along with a finalist performance at Roland Garros.
Pegula has now won five WTA doubles titles in her career, all coming during her breakthrough 2022 season. Gauff, who held the doubles World No.1 ranking for four weeks earlier this year, has won six doubles titles overall.