Iga Swiatek has been the WTA's most dominant player in the last 15 months, and she has not given the slightest hint of loosening her grip.
The Pole now begins her 70th consecutive week on top of the rankings. Swiatek captured her first career title on home soil at the weekend, crushing Germany's Laura Siegemund 6-0 6-1 in the championship match. She became the first Polish woman to win a Tour-level title in her home country - a sweet moment to savior in a chaotic week full of rain interruptions at the Poland Open.
Swiatek has spoken fondly of dealing with the relentless pressures that come with being the world's top-ranked player. But playing on home soil, the expectations went up a notch. She wasn't just the star attraction in the low-key WTA 250 event, but the colossal favorite to win her fourth title of the year.
And she duly delivered from all fronts, going to the extent of winning two matches in a span of a few hours. By virtue of the title win in Warsaw, she embarks on her 70th week in a row at the summit of women's tennis. Since Ashleigh Barty's retirement, Swiatek has seized the mantle and isn't ready to relinquish it.
"I want to thank my team and my family. It's not easy to play in Warsaw, but I'm so happy that we could manage and do everything we could today, after a pretty tiring day yesterday."
A key point to note, this is Swiatek's first stint as number one. Despite Aryna Sabalenka's best efforts to dethrone her, the Pole hasn't slipped yet. So consequently, she is just the third woman as part of an exclusive club to hold onto the no. 1 ranking for 70 or more weeks in their first spell. The other two are Steffi Graf (186 weeks) and Martina Hingis (80 weeks).
The 22-year-old is in 11th place among the list of WTA players, with the most weeks at number one. Swiatek trails Danish star Caroline Wozniacki who sits in 10th place by a single week. Swiatek is also the eighth player in WTA rankings history to compile 70 consecutive weeks at no.1 in any stint.
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