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Swiatek leads Australian Open entry list

World No.1 Swiatek leads Australian Open entry list.

As per WTA, nineteen of the world’s Top 20 are entered, with the only exception being the provisionally suspended Simona Halep…reports Asian Lite News

World No.1 Iga Swiatek leads the entry list for next year’s Australian Open, which is based on the WTA rankings of the week beginning December 5.

Reigning Roland Garros and US Open champion Swiatek is one of 13 current or former Grand Slam winners who have entered the first major of 2023, which begins on January 16. The Pole, who reached her first Australian Open semifinal this year, will be bidding to add a fourth Grand Slam title to her haul so far.

Three former Australian Open champions are in the line-up — Victoria Azarenka (2012-13), Naomi Osaka (2019, 2021) and Sofia Kenin (2020) — as well as three former Australian Open runners-up, Petra Kvitova (2019), Garbie Muguruza (2020) and Danielle Collins (2022). This year’s champion, Ashleigh Barty, retired from professional tennis in March and will not defend her title.

Alongside Swiatek, Azarenka, Osaka, Kenin, Kvitova and Muguruza, the remaining roster of Grand Slam champions with direct entry comprises Jelena Ostapenko, Barbora Krejcikova, Elena Rybakina, Sloane Stephens, Bianca Andreescu and Emma Raducanu. Additionally, seven-time major winner Venus Williams will compete as a wild card.

As per WTA, nineteen of the world’s Top 20 are entered, with the only exception being the provisionally suspended Simona Halep.

Kenin, currently ranked No.240 and on the comeback trail after an injury-struck season, is one of 11 players using a special ranking to enter the main draw. The others include two former Grand Slam finalists, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Marketa Vondrousova, as well as Karolina Muchova, Nadia Podoroska, Laura Siegemund, Jaqueline Cristian, Patricia Maria Tig, Evgeniya Rodina, Zheng Saisai and Kristina Kucova.

No.95-ranked Ysaline Bonaventure is the last player to be directly accepted into the main draw. In the event of withdrawals, the next five players in would be Harriet Dart, Kateryna Baindl, Dayana Yastremska, Alycia Parks and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

The qualifying entry list has also been released, based on the rankings of December 19, with the last initial direct acceptance being World No.219 Anastasia Gasanova.

Six players have used special rankings to enter the qualifying draw: Eugenie Bouchard, Zoe Hives, Katarina Zavatska, Barbara Haas, Kathinka Von Deichmann and Arina Rodionova. The top five alternates are Sophie Chang, Robin Montgomery, Rosa Vicens Mas, Katherine Sebov and Ekaterine Gorgodze.

Five out of eight wild cards have been officially announced. In addition to two-time runner-up Williams, No.110-ranked Diane Parry has received the French Tennis Federation’s reciprocal wild card.

The 20-year-old reached her career-high of No.58 in October after a rookie tour season that included a maiden WTA semifinal in Granby and an upset of defending champion Barbora Krejcikova in the first round of Roland Garros.

Local hopes Storm Hunter, Olivia Gadecki and Talia Gibson have also received wild cards. No.241-ranked Hunter, 28, is also a Top 10 doubles player and was instrumental in Australia’s run to the Billie Jean King Cup final last month.

Gadecki, 20, has compiled a 37-18 pro record in 2022; while 18-year-old Gibson rose from No.1200 to No.364 over the course of this year.

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Swiatek beats Alexandrova to reach final at Ostrava Open

Throughout her career, Swiatek is 10-1 in WTA Tour singles finals, with her only loss coming to Polona Hercog in Swiatek’s very first final at 2019 Lugano…reports Asian Lite News

World No.1 Iga Swiatek won her 10th straight match to reach the final of the Ostrava Open, fending off a stern challenge from hard-hitting World No.21 Ekaterina Alexandrova, eventually prevailing 7-6(5), 2-6, 6-4 after 2 hours and 38 minutes of semifinal play, here on Saturday.

The victory marks Swiatek’s 60th match-win of the season, including WTA Tour events and Billie Jean King Cup action. She is also into her eighth final of the season and is undefeated in finals so far in 2022.

Throughout her career, Swiatek is 10-1 in WTA Tour singles finals, with her only loss coming to Polona Hercog in Swiatek’s very first final at 2019 Lugano.

Barbora Krejcikova will be Swiatek’s opponent in Sunday’s final. Krejcikova thrilled her homeland crowd with a come-from-behind victory in the semifinals in Ostrava, the Czech Republic on Saturday, battling past reigning Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 3-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.

Reigning US Open champion Swiatek has won both of her previous meetings with Krejcikova. Swiatek won in straight sets on the hard courts of Miami last year before a difficult three-set win on the clay of Rome two months later.

Meanwhile, after reaching only one final in the first nine months of the year, former World No.2 Krejcikova has caught fire, having reached two finals in the last two weeks. Last week’s Tallinn champion Krejcikova is now on an eight-match winning streak.

The 2021 Roland Garros champion Krejcikova improves to 8-1 in the WTA Tour semifinals in her career, as she becomes the first Czech player to reach the Ostrava final in its three-year history as a tour event.

With her 2-hour and 21-minute win, Krejcikova is undefeated 2-0 against Rybakina, having eked out another win in their only prior meeting, at the Grampians Trophy early last year.

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Tennis star Swiatek defeats Osaka to win Miami Open

But Swiatek stands alone as the first player to win the first three WTA 1000 tournaments in a season. It was her fourth career WTA 1000 title and the sixth singles title overall…reports Asian Lite News

Poland’s 20-year-old tennis star Iga Swiatek bested Naomi Osaka of Japan 6-4, 6-0 in the Miami Open title clash to complete a ‘Sunshine Double’ in the prestigious WTA 1000 tournament on Sunday (IST).

This was Swiatek’s 17th straight match win on the WTA Tour and her third consecutive WTA 1000 title with a straight-sets win over the four-time Grand Slam champion.

On Monday, the Pole star will officially become the world No.1 for the first time in her career. She moves to that position following her commanding 1-hour and 17-minute victory.

“I just feel really satisfied and fulfilled and also proud of myself,” Swiatek was quoted as saying by wtatennis.com. “I feel like I have got to celebrate, because I don’t know how long I can keep up with this streak.”

The former French Open champion also joins an exclusive club by becoming only the fourth woman to win the Sunshine Double — titles at WTA 1000 Indian Wells and Miami in the same season.

Germany’s Steffi Graf (1994 and 1996), Belgium’s Kim Clijsters (2005) and Belarusian Victoria Azarenka (2016), all former No.1 players, are the others. Swiatek, 20, is the youngest woman to pull off this feat.

“I feel pretty privileged that I can be amongst those players, because I wouldn’t even dream of it a few years ago,” Swiatek said. “I knew it’s going to be tough playing these two tournaments in a row. I realized at the end it’s just another match and I took it step by step.”

Swiatek’s career-best winning streak continues, with all of her past 17 wins coming at the first three WTA 1000 events of the season. She swept the titles at WTA 1000 Doha, Indian Wells and now Miami, joining American great Serena Williams (2013 – Miami, Madrid, Rome, Toronto) and Caroline Wozniacki (2010 – Montréal, Tokyo, Beijing) as the only players to win three or more consecutive WTA 1000 titles in a single season.

But Swiatek stands alone as the first player to win the first three WTA 1000 tournaments in a season. It was her fourth career WTA 1000 title and the sixth singles title overall.

Swiatek becomes the first player to win 17 consecutive matches on hard courts in a single calendar year since Williams won 20 straight between the Australian Open and Toronto in 2015.

“I learned a lot about myself, that I can keep going, and really I don’t need to feel like 100 percent on points to win matches against great players,” Swiatek said. “I can trust myself a little bit more right now. I really used that streak to have more confidence, and also the ranking.”

“Playing against Naomi in a final was pretty exciting, and I knew that the world is going to watch, because it’s a nice match just to follow,” Swiatek said. “I wanted to give the best tennis I can so people actually can be satisfied. But on the other hand, just seeing that I can play that well against such a player is really satisfying.”

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