World No. 1 Iga Swiatek delivered a very dominant performance in her first match of the year as the Pole destroyed 11th-ranked Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-2 6-2 at the United Cup.
On Saturday, 22-year-old Swiatek kicked off her 2024 season at the United Cup, where she is representing Poland. In the first match of the Poland and Brazil tie, Swiatek clinched a very dominant win over Haddad Maia to give Poland an early 1-0 lead.
Although Haddad Maia is now one of the better players on the WTA Tour, she didn’t really stand any chance against Swiatek. Following their United Cup match, Swiatek improved to 2-1 over Haddad Maia.
How Swiatek beat Haddad Maia?
Haddad Maia served out the opening game of the match but it didn’t take long before Swiatek earned the first break of the match in the third game. After claiming the first break of the match in the third game, Swiatek also broke Haddad Maia in the fifth game en route to winning five games in a row and taking a 5-1 lead.
In the seventh game, Haddad Maia saved two set points on her service to finally end Swiatek’s run of five consecutive games. However, not realizing two set points in the seventh game didn’t impact Swiatek as the Pole converted her third set point on her serve in the eighth game.
After serving out the opening game of the second set, Haddad Maia also had her first break point of the match in the second game – but she didn’t convert it. Haddad Maia paid the price for not realizing her break point as Swiatek claimed back-to-back breaks in the third and fifth games to open a 4-1 lead.
Down by a set and a break, Haddad Maia managed to get one break back in the sixth game and cut the deficit to 2-4. But it didn’t change much as Swiatek broke Haddad Maia again for a 5-2 lead before serving out for the match in the following game.
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