Iga Swiatek’s Rome Open title defence ended on a victorious note as the world no. 1 bested Ons Jabeur 6-2, 6-2 in the final on Sunday. The Pole needed 82 minutes to notch what was her 28th win on the run.
In her quarter-final and semi-final, Jabeur had outlasted Maria Sakkari and Daria Kasatkina who’d put her in trouble. However, the Tunisian who’d had a streak of victory runs herself (11) going on, couldn’t do the same against Swiatek. The Pole went up an early break across both sets and extricated herself well each time her serve encountered problems – including saving a handful of break points in the second set – to keep her opponent at bay.
The win also helped Swiatek bring her win-to-loss record against the ninth seed to parity in what was the fourth time they were facing off against each other. Earlier, Jabeur had had a slender 2-1 lead but none of the three matches had been played on clay.
Rome Open: Iga Swiatek and Ons Jabeur’s Numbers’ Game
Speaking to the press after her win, Swiatek spoke about her streak of match wins. “At the beginning of the tournament, I didn’t know it would be possible to keep up the streak and with all the wins. I’m pretty happy I did it really step by step and I just focused on the right things because I think it led to all the success this week. Yeah, for sure it was a long path for me since the beginning, but I’m really proud of myself and my team.”
After the Rome Open, Iga Swiatek now has lost only three matches this year – at the Adelaide International, Australian Open and the Dubai Open. She’s also won five titles this year, including four of the five biggest WTA tournaments that’ve been held this far. The only WTA 1000 tourney she didn’t win was the Mutua Madrid Open because she chose to skip the event. Meanwhile, for Ons Jabeur, despite the loss in the final, this week was still momentous as she reached a new career-high of no. 6 in the world.
Photo Credit: WTA Twitter