Swiatek wins WTA Finals and becomes number one in the world again – 11/06/2023 – Sport

This Monday (6), the elite women’s tennis season ended. It was such a problematic outcome that the WTA, the association of professional tennis players, had to apologize for the conditions presented. But, as happened several other times this year, in good or bad conditions, the tournament ended with Iga Swiatek smiling.

The 22-year-old Polish easily beat North American Jessica Pegula in the game that decided the WTA Finals, a championship that brought together the world’s top eight in Cancún. With splits of 6/1 and 6/0, she went 2 sets to 0 in fifth place in the rankings and regained the top of the list, leaving Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka behind.

Swiatek had beaten Sabalenka herself in the semifinals, which gave her the chance to regain the lead in the standings. She would only overtake her rival if she won the decision, which did not prove to be a problem for the young woman, who seemed to have less difficulty than her competitors in dealing with the scenario presented in Mexico.

It was less than two months in advance that Cancún was announced as the venue for the Finals, and the organizers had difficulty finalizing the court, which was only delivered the day before the competition began. The surface was considered uneven by the athletes, and the weather conditions, with a lot of rain and a lot of wind during the week, did not help. The public was a failure.

“You can see the number of unforced errors, we were limited by the conditions. It’s very easy to get stressed in a long exchange of balls because you don’t know how the ball will return. The quality is not good,” said Elena Rybakina, from Kazakhstan , after one of his games. Russian Marketa Vondrousova went further and said it was “disrespect”.

When pressed, the WTA expressed understanding of the complaints and agreed: “It is not a perfect event, and the WTA takes responsibility.” The final should have taken place on Sunday, but with delays in the schedule due to rain, it was postponed to Monday. Once again, she beat Swiatek, once again number one in the world.

The association will still officially release its ranking. It is likely that Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia will take tenth place and for the first time end the season in the top 10. Confirmation depends on an uncertainty regarding the score of Czech Barbora Krejciková, current number ten.