Iga Swiatek's comeback to the tennis courts was far from easy, but she completed an insane comeback to beat Barbora Krejcikova at the 2024 WTA Finals.
The Polish player has not competed in two months. She last played at the US Open, and a lot has changed for her since then. She parted ways with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and appointed a new coach, Wim Fissette.
Fissette has experience working with former World No. 1 players, and at the moment, Swiatek also holds that status, as the World No. 1 spot was taken over by Aryna Sabalenka, who won her first match at the WTA Finals.
Swiatek, even though in a different group in the round-robin stage, wanted to start her 2024 WTA Finals campaign with a win as well, and she managed to do that.
It didn't look like it early on, though. Krejcikova is an experienced player and a player that knows how to play against Swiatek. She beat her in both of their last two matches, coming into this meeting on a four-set winning streak against the Pole.
On top of that, the Czech player started by breaking her opponent's serve. That meant she was in the lead since the start of the match. In the sixth game, however, she had to face three consecutive break points.
However, Krejcikova saved all of them and even worked her way to another break point in the ninth game, which was also a set point, but she couldn't convert it. That didn't matter, as she held her serve in the following game to win the first set 6-4.
The start of the match couldn't have gone better than that for the Czech player, who is the lowest seed at the 2024 WTA Finals. After winning the first set, she broke Swiatek's serve twice to lead 3-0 in the second set.
But Swiatek isn't one of the most successful tennis players of this generation just because she's a good player. She's a great fighter as well, and she showed that in this match.
She recovered both breaks, winning four games in a row to stay in the match. She then added one more break, which was crucial, as it meant that she won the second set 7-5 to force the decider.
The World No. 2 was the dominant player in the second set, winning the first five games to build a lead that seemed to be impossible to lose, and it was impossible to lose.
Although Swiatek lost one of the breaks, she still won the match 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 to win her first round-robin stage match at the 2024 WTA Finals, which will be crucial for her to reach the semi-finals.
In her next two matches, the Polish player, as well as her Czech opponent, will take on two American players, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula. Krejcikova, despite losing the match, still has a chance to qualify for the semi-finals.