FORT WORTH: Iga Swiatek showed why she is world number one and the hot favorite to win this year’s WTA Finals in Forth Worth with a 6-2, 6-3 dismantling of Russia’s eighth ranked Daria Kasatkina before Caroline Garcia beat Coco Gauff in straight sets on Tuesday.

The match felt all but over for Kasatkina when Swiatek saved two break points and pounded a forehand winner past the Russian’s outstretched racket for a 3-0 first-set lead.

The 21-year-old Pole cruised from there on, dominating with her serve, including one on match point that Kasatkina could not handle, to improve her head-to-head record against Kasatkina to 5-0 this year.

The win continues a phenomenal season for Swiatek, who rose to world number one in April and has won eight titles including two Grand Slams at Roland Garros and Flushing Meadows this year.

The WTA Finals features eight women split into two groups, with the top two finishers moving into the semi-finals of the indoor tournament played on purple hard courts in Texas.

In the other Tracy Austin group match of the day, France’s Garcia beat American teenager Gauff 6-4 6-3 to get off to a flying start. It took Garcia 1hr 18min to defeat US hope Gauff.

The veteran French­woman, who also triumphed over Gauff in the quarter-finals of this year’s US Open, was the better player on the match’s biggest points, breaking an error-prone Gauff four times.

Published in Dawn, November 3rd, 2022