Iga Swiatek has dominated the matchup against Coco Gauff, but will she win the one at the WTA Finals? Let's find out in the preview.
Swiatek and Gauff played many times so far, including a couple of times this year. The Polish player has been utterly dominant, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a player she hasn't been dominant against.
Still, most of these matches happened before Gauff had her tremendous transformation recently. She won a couple of big events, bested Swiatek en route to one of those trophies, and then won her maiden Grand Slam trophy as well.
She's a far different player, but that doesn't mean that this is a matchup that suddenly is going to go her way, especially at the WTA Finals.
Head-to-head:
We've seen proof of that recently at the China Open, where they played once more. It was the same old story of Swiatek cruising past Gauff, who really didn't play well. More importantly, she didn't look very comfortable in the matchup, so what happens now?
Quite a few things could happen, but Swiatek has mostly been really successful against Gauff. They played at the WTA Finals last year and Swiatek on easily. She leads the matchup 8-1 overall, including 3-1 this year. It's kind of hard to go against her in those types of scenarios.
Prediction:
The thing that could be decisive is the conditions. We don't know what they are going to be but both are really great movers which allows them to adjust to different kinds of conditions. Gauff is more speedy but Swiatek is the better hitter overall.
Outhitting, or rather surviving that hitting, has been a problem for Gauff. She handled it well in Cincinnati but didn't in Beijing. I don't think she will in Cancun either, but we'll see what happens.
Prediction: Iga Swiatek to win in two sets.
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