Iga Swiatek reflects on China Open win - 'The last thing I expected at the beginning of the tournament'

ByOli Gent

Published 09/10/2023 at 11:00 GMT

Iga Swiatek has admitted that winning the China Open title last week was "the last thing I expected at the beginning of the tournament", after she beat Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets in the final, 6-2 6-2. The 22-year-old Pole came back from a last-16 exit at the US Open to win the recent Beijing Open too, beating Flushing Meadows champion Coco Gauff en route to the final.

Iga Swiatek has spoken of her surprise at her title win at the China Open, where she overcame Liudmila Samsonova in straight sets in the final, calling it "the last thing I expected".

Swiatek, who lost her world No. 1 ranking after Aryna Sabalenka made the final of the US Open, came into the Beijing tournament reeling from her premature round of 16 exit at Flushing Meadows, where she fell to the resilient Jelena Ostapenko 3-6 6-3 6-1.

But it seems that the 22-year-old Pole is back to her scintillating best on the Asian acrylic, convincingly beating US Open champion Coco Gauff 6-2 6-3 in the semi-finals.

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“I’m very happy [to have won it]," she said. "For sure, it was the last thing that I expected at the beginning of the tournament.

"The match, even though the scoreline suggests it was easy, wasn’t. It was intense, and I put a lot of pressure on myself.

"I’m happy that I was solid and consistent till the end, and I could keep my focus and at the end, I was grateful for the support I get from my team, because the past two weeks weren’t easy."

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Swiatek dropped just one set en route to the title in the Chinese capital, to Caroline Garcia, the ninth seed, in the quarter-finals.

“The match against Caroline, every point mattered. We had two tie-breakers. It was the toughest one to stay in a positive mindset, but I was able to do that because of the positive feeling I had from the beginning of the tournament.

"I try to keep my expectations low for as long as possible, and focus on the work, because what I did after the US Open, digging deep into technique and working really hard paid off.

"I’m trying to continue that for the rest of the season."

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Choosing to sit out the Korea Open, a couple of days of celebration are due for Swiatek, before she returns to the practice court ahead of the WTA Finals in Cancun, which start on October 29.

She said: “I’m happy that I can come back home again and be [there] for two weeks.

"It’s something that we miss at the end of the season, so it’s good that we have time to do that right now.

"We have to wait for the finals for two weeks. Maybe it’s not the best scenario as then pre-season is shorter, but for sure, I’m going to take all the positive sides from [the China Open title] and for now, I’ll celebrate for the next couple of days.”

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