How Iga Swiatek broke another record held by Serena Williams and qualified for WTA Finals in June

| by Zachary Wimer

The WTA Finals are played by the eight best players in a given season and every time it's a big fight for the spots in the tournament, but not for Iga Swiatek.

When a player qualifies for the WTA Finals in August, it's quite early. Some fight for the spots in September and even in late October we see players joining tournaments that they wouldn't normally play to get enough points to qualify for the WTA Finals. Current record of the fastest qualification for the tournament was held by Serena Williams but Iga Swiatek smashed her record.

First, Iga Swiatek managed to win 35 matches in a row and therefore beat Serena Williams' 34-match winning streak and equal Venus Williams' record. Now, the young Pole broke another record held by the legendary American.

Swiatek to play Radwanska in charity match for Ukraine overlooked by Svitolina
Swiatek to play Radwanska in charity match for Ukraine overlooked by Svitolina

In 2015, Serena Williams had an incredible season when she got close to winning a Calendar Slam. Yet, she was stopped by Roberta Vinci in the semifinals of the 2022 US Open and couldn't do it, but she still won the previous three Grand Slam tournaments and was dominant throughout the season.

That also contributed to her easy qualification for the WTA Finals when she had enough points to play the tournament already on the 6th of July. Yet, this incredible number was broken by a month by Iga Swiatek who qualified for the 2022 WTA Finals already on the 6th of June 2022.

In the WTA Race this year, Iga Swiatek earned already 7290 while her closest three competitors combined, Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff, have less points than the young Pole. That guaranteed the world number 1 qualification for the 2022 WTA Finals already after the 2022 Roland Garros where she lifted her second Grand Slam trophy after defeating Coco Gauff in the final.

"Thinking about the streak is not helping me" - Swiatek on her winning streak
"Thinking about the streak is not helping me" - Swiatek on her winning streak

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