Jessica Pegula had a decent tournament at this year's WTA Finals but was outplayed by Iga Swiatek in Monday's championship match.
The American World No. 5 took to Instagram in the aftermath of her crushing defeat to share her hilarious reaction after falling victim to Swiatek's so-called "Iga's Bakery" after winning just a single game in just an hour of play.
Because Swiatek has regularly won 6-0 and 6-1 sets on tour, tennis fans instituted that name and tend to poke fun at players who fall prey. In fact, there is a famous tennis account on X going by the name "Did Iga Swiatek bagel or breadstick somebody?" to keep up with how many times she wins by the score.
In tennis informal glossary of terms, 6-0 sets are called bagels, while 6-1 sets are called breadsticks. On Monday, Pegula was on the wrong end of a brutal scoreline, being fed a bagel and a breadstick. The match set the record for the most one-sided final at the year-end championships.
The only other time a player won fewer games in the final of the WTA Finals was the two that Chris Evert managed against Martina Navratilova in 1983 and Amelie Mauresmo who also managed the same number of games against Kim Clijsters in 2003.
"Ended the year through the Iga bakery factory lol. Jokes aside. 2023 in the books."
Pegula was no slouch. She went into the final steaming in confidence having not dropped a set in any match and defeated Aryna Sabalenka, the now former No. 1 in straight sets in the group stage. She also thrashed fellow American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-2 in the semfinal.
So if there was a player capable of poking holes in Swiatek's game it had to be Pegula. But from the opening point, Swiatek was laser-focused as if she was instructed to do one job only, and not allow Pegula win a single game. She played without a handbrake, and it was a baseline artistry of perfection.
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