Iga Swiatek mounted another strong show at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in the semi-final on Friday. The world no. 1 defeated Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-2 in almost an hour-and-a-half.
Swiatek won 73% of her first-serve points to Gauff’s 56%. Although Swiatek won only 44% of her second-serve points, she also won 77% of points on return on the American’s second serve. Swiatek did drop her serve twice across the match but also converted five break points on Gauff’s serve.
After the match, Swiatek shared, “Coco is a great player and I knew it was going to be tough. Especially after last year when we played five times, because you never know if you’re going to see something new or not.”
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships: Iga Swiatek vs Barbora Krejcikova
Swiatek’s now made it to the final of both events she’s played since losing in the pre-quarters of the 2023 Australian Open. Last week, she’d reached the final in Doha. This match against Gauff not only saw her extend the number of wins she’d against Gauff to six (zero losses) but also saw her lose the most number of games in a match. The most she’d lost previously was against Jessica Pegula in the Doha final. Swiatek won that match 6-3, 6-0.
Meanwhile, the 21-year-old will play Barbora Krejcikova. The Czech won her semi-final against third seed Jessica Pegula 6-1, 5-7, 6-0. Incidentally, 24th February also happens to be Pegula’s birthday.
Krejcikova won 69% of her first-serve points to Pegula’s 52% and 51% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 45%. Krejcikova saved five of the seven break points she faced and converted six of the 11 break points that came her way on Pegula’s serve. For the match, Krejcikova had 31 winners, 20 more than her rival’s 11.
Heading into the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships’ final, Iga Swiatek holds a slight lead in the head-to-head against Barbora Krejcikova, 2-1. But the latter won their most recent match, in the final of the 2022 Ostrava Open.
Photo Credit: Iga Swiatek Twitter
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