Iga Swiatek pulled off an unfortunate feat at this year's WTA Finals after the 23-year-old became just the fourth player in the last 20 years to finish the Round Robin stage with a 2-1 record but still not reach the semifinal.
At the start of her title defense, the Pole found herself down by a set and two breaks before impressively storming back to beat Barbora Krejcikova 4-6 7-5 6-2. While the world No. 2 just barely avoided a loss in her opening match, she wasn't that lucky in her next match after Coco Gauff handed her a 6-3 6-4 loss.
Entering the group's finale, the American had a 2-0 record while Swiatek and the Czech were standing at 1-1. The first to hit the court on Thursday was the Polish tennis star, who annihilated alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1 6-0 to secure her second win in Riyadh.
But the five-time Grand Slam champion still didn't have anything in her hands because it all depended on the Gauff and Krejcikova match. For the Pole, there were only two scenarios - she makes the semifinal with the American's win and goes home with if the Czech ends on the winning side. Unfortunately for Swiatek, the scenario she didn't want to happen happened after Krejcikova earned a 7-5 6-4 win against the 2023 US Open champion.
In 2004, the exact same thing happened to former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport, who beat Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva but the loss to Anastasia Myskina was costly. 10 years later, Ana Ivanovic defeated Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard but didn't make it past the group stage following a loss to Williams. Three years ago in Guadalajara, Karolina Pliskova overcame Krejcikova and Garbine Muguruza in the Round Robin stage - lost only to Anett Kontaveit - and saw her run end in the group stage.
How Swiatek felt after winning two matches but not reaching the WTA Finals semis?
It may not have been the best of endings for the 2023 WTA Finals winner but she was proud that she performed well and ultimately finished with a positive record.
It was a pretty solid performance from me. Im 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. Thank you guys for the support. It means a lot and any place I go I hear this support. I havent played in a while and I miss this feeling of the support," Swiatek said.
In case you missed it, the Pole wasn't aware that due to complicated tie-breakers, her match against Kasatkina bore no significance and she only needed Gauff to beat Krejcikova to make it out the group stage.
Honestly, I dont 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... You know. Im professional enough to always give 100 percent no matter what the stakes are. So, no," the 23-year-old claimed.
Daria Kasatkina ripped the WTA rule after the Swiatek case
Krejcikova finished 12th on the WTA Race to Riyadh list but made the season-ending tournament after winning Wimbledon and finishing between 9-20. Because of the rule, Emma Navarro - who finished eighth and gained much more points than the Czech - didn't make the WTA Finals.
In my opinion, the WTA Race is the WTA Race. So its about how many points you earn during the year. If you win a Grand Slam, you already got what you achieved. You won the Grand Slam, points, money, glory, everything. Here its the WTA Race. So I think in this scenario, it has to go by points," Kasatkina said.
It should be noted that Swiatek was playing her first tournament since the US Open. But when she arrived in Riyadh, she insisted that she had some strong practices and didn't feel rusty. Also, she made it clear that she would be aiming for the title but also try to beat out Aryna Sabalenka for the Year-End No. 1 spot.
"Obviously we're both fighting for this spot. Yeah, it's been us basically kind of over the past few years. Yeah, I mean, I am in the tournament. I obviously want to play my best game here and win this tournament. I'm just going to focus on my first match and do everything step by step," the Pole said.
Ultimately, she didn't succeed in her goals.
Meanwhile, Swiatek's season is still not over because she still has the Billie Jean King Cup Finals next week.
