RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- When Iga Swiatek throttled alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 on Thursday she played as if her continued presence at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF depended on it.
As it turned out, because of some complicated tiebreakers, the match had no bearing on her advancement to the semifinals.
“Um,” a stunned Swiatek said later, “you mean it didn’t matter? What?”
Originally, with Swiatek scheduled to play Jessica Pegula, her only qualifying scenario demanded a victory and a later win by Coco Gauff over Barbora Krjcikova. But when Pegula pulled out with an injured left knee, Swiatek’s match was no longer involved in the semifinal calculation.
“Huh,” Swiatek said after a long pause, causing reporters to burst out in laughter.
“Honestly, I don’t think it matters. Like we go out on court to win every match anyway, so … I was not thinking about that. I did not know that was the case.
WTA Finals Riyadh: Scores | Schedule | Standings
Was it a good thing you didn’t know?
“You know,” she said earnestly, “I’m professional enough to always give 100 percent no matter what the stakes are. So, no.”
The results certainly bear that out. It was over in 51 minutes, Swiatek’s second-shortest match of the year, following a 6-0, 6-0 win over Anastasia Potapova in the Round of 16 at Roland Garros that required 40 minutes.
She won an extraordinary 51 of 74 points and broke Kasatkina’s serve five of six times.
That gave Swiatek a 2-1 record in group play and left her a keen observer of the second singles match between Gauff and Krejcikova, a match she said she might be too nervous to watch.
Pegula struggled in her first two matches but had beaten Swiatek four times in previous matches. Kasatkina, meanwhile, had lost five of six matches to Swiatek. After taking the first meeting three years ago in Eastbourne, Kasatkina failed to win a set in five matches they played in 2022 -- in Melbourne, Dubai, Doha, Roland Garros and at the WTA Finals in Fort Worth. In fact, Kasatkina averaged fewer than four games in those encounters.
The trend continued when Swiatek broke Kasatkina’s first service game. And then the second. Swiatek won 28 of 35 points in racing to a 5-0 lead before Kasatkina claimed her first game at the 22-minute mark. Three minutes later, Swiatek converted her second set point with a resounding ace.
Swiatek had lost four consecutive matches against Top 10 players this year -- Zheng Qinwen (Paris Olympics), Aryna Sabalenka (Cincinnati), Pegula (US Open) and Gauff (WTA Finals) -- the longest such streak of her career.
Only Aryna Sabalenka (11) has won more WTA top 10 wins in 2024 than Swiatek, who is now 10-4.
Swiatek, 23, could become the youngest player to reach three consecutive semifinals at the WTA Finals since Maria Sharapova, who achieved four straight between 2004-07.
