Iga Swiatek claimed the 2022 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title on Sunday with a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Aryna Sabalenka. The top seed who was playing the tournament for the first time needed an hour and 24 minutes to wrap up the win.
Swiatek won 77% of her first-serve points to Sabalenka’s 61% and 44% of her second-serve points to the latter’s 40%. Swiatek saved both break points she faced while converting four of the eight break-point chances that came her way on Sabalenka’s serve. She also hit 17 winners, four more than her opponent’s 13.
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Iga Swiatek’s maiden glory
After her win, Swiatek said, “I worked hard this week to adjust properly and to play my best tennis on this surface. I’m pretty proud of myself and pretty proud of my team because basically after yesterday’s match, it wasn’t easy to reset physically and mentally and be ready for today.”
Throughout this week, Swiatek lost her serve only once – in the semi-final against Liudmila Samsonova. The Pole, who became the world no. 1 for the first time in her career last week has now won all four tournaments she’s played recently – going back to the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, followed by two more WTA 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Miami that saw her become the only fourth WTA player to complete the “Sunshine Double”. All said, Swiatek’s now won 23 matches in a row.
Speaking about the continuity of wins after her title haul at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Iga Swiatek noted, “For sure right now I need to work harder to keep this streak, but I’m just going to take it match by match, and I’m super proud of myself and really satisfied. These are the kind of players who were role models when I was growing up.”
Photo Credit: Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Twitter