Prime-ranked Iga Swiatek overcame a problem from qualifier Donna Vekic on Sunday to win the San Diego Open title 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Swiatek earned her tour-leading sixty fourth victory of the season heading into the WTA Finals that start Friday in Fort Value, Texas. The occasion options the tour’s high eight singles and doubles groups.
The 21-year-old received her eighth title of the season, together with the French Open and U.S. Open earlier this yr.
“I’ve labored laborious with my coach and my psychologist to maintain centered on these moments that make it simpler to shut the match,” Swiatek mentioned. “I simply needed to be proactive in making my pictures.”
Talking in her native Polish, Swiatek thanked the vocal Polish contingent that exhorted her with chants of “Iga! Iga!”
“I needed to be the one who hit the final ball in, use my endurance extra and never assume an excessive amount of,” mentioned Swiatek, who ascended to world No. 1 some seven months in the past following the shock retirement of Australia’s Ash Barty.
Swiatek was awarded a winner’s test of $116,340 together with a yellow surfboard.
Individuals Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula received the doubles closing, defeating Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada and Giuliana Olmos of Mexico 1-6, 7-5, (10-4). Prime-seeded Gauff and Pegula needed to play two full matches on Sunday as a result of rain postponed the semifinal match.
After Vekic received the second set, Swiatek left little question about her dominance within the closing set together with her array of topspin cross-court forehands and looping pictures that flustered her tiring opponent.
“I managed to win the second set, however within the third I simply hit the Iga wall,” mentioned Vekic, who got here into the first-year WTA occasion as an unseeded qualifier, successful seven matches in eight days.
“She performed out of this world,” the Croatian added. “She confirmed why she’s undoubtedly the perfect participant on the planet proper now.”
An unlikely finalist, Vekic, ranked 77th, reached the finals only some hours earlier than her match with Swiatek, claiming a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (2) semifinal win over unseeded Danielle Collins of the U.S.
Unfold over two days on account of Saturday night time’s two prolonged rain delays, the Vekic-Collins match totaled three hours, together with Sunday’s 32-minute end. Collins re-started with a 4-2 edge within the third set, however Vekic battled again to earn the finals berth.