World number 1 Iga Swiatek continued her domination of women’s tennis at the WTA Finals with another comprehensive win over Caroline Garcia to reach the semifinals while Daria Kasatkina defeated Coco Gauff to eliminate her from final-four contention.
Coming into the contest on the back of opening-day wins, both Swiatek and Garcia started on equal footing before a surge of points helped the Pole seal the contest 6-3, 6-2.
At 3-all the match seemed to be headed for the long haul before Swiatek took charge, breaking for a 5-3 lead before serving out the set. She then broke Garcia to start the second set and in the next game climbed back from 0-40 down to hold serve and never faced a break point the rest of the way in a match she sealed in style with an ace.
The win over Garcia takes Swiatek into the final four of the WTA Finals where she is yet to drop a set.
Swiatek’s victory made her 14-1 against opponents ranked in the top 10 in 2022 with all those 14 wins coming in a row, the longest such single-season unbeaten streak on tour in 15 years.
Garcia is the only WTA Finals entrant who managed to defeat Swiatek this year — at the Poland Open in July.
Meanwhile, in the day’s other contest, Daria Kasatkina earned her first Finals win with a 7-6 (6), 6-3 victory over American teenager Coco Gauff who slips to 0-4 in her debut after suffering two losses in the doubles as well.
Gauff raced to a 4-1 lead in the first set that quickly disappeared before she conceded the tiebreaker. Kasatkina who was 28-0 this year after winning the first set maintained the trend by easily sealing the second.
She will now take on Caroline Garcia to decide the second entrant behind Swiatek.
