Barbora Krejcikova continued her giant-killing streak in the Dubai Open to down world no1 Iga Swiatek and win her first WTA 1000 title in the process.
The 2021 French Open winner capitalised on a subpar performance from Swiatek to earn a 6-4 6-2 win and end the Pole’s winning run in the Middle East swing.
The signs of trouble for Swiatek were there from the very first game as Krejcikova broke her on the very first serve. A loose game allowed Swiatek to draw level at 3-3 but the Czhech responded immediately with a second break.
Krejcikova then used the momentum to not only take the first set but race to a 4-2 lead in the second as Swiatek struggled to keep her errors down in stark contrast to her recent form.
The Czech then closed out the match on serve to earn a unique honour. Krejcikova is only the fifth player to have beaten the top three ranked players in this tournament after Steffi Graf, Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Aryna Sabalenka.
Barbora Krejcikova got the better of world no2 Sabalenka in the quarterfinal, the world no3 Jessica Pegula in the semis before taking care of world no1 Swiatek in the Dubai Open final.
Krejcikova is set to climb from number 30 to 16 when the rankings are updated on Monday.
