Swiatek Cuts Gauff's Lead In Olympics Race After WTA Finals Win
WTAThursday, 09 November 2023 at 13:30
The Polish star reclaimed the World No. 1 ranking after besting the eight-woman field in Cancun, Mexico, to win the prestigious season-ending championships for the first time. Swiatek walked away with the full 1,500 points on offer for going undefeated during the week.
Her dominant title win was historic for a number of reasons. At 22, she became the youngest WTA Finals champion in 12 years and broke Serena Williams' decade-long record of dropping the fewest games to win the title by some margin (only lost 20 games).
Among the impressive feats she conjured in Cancun, Swiatek's performance in the final match was simply breathtaking. She completed a rout over World No. 5 Jessica Pegula (6-0, 6-1), in the most one-sided championship match in WTA Finals history.
As such, she accrued 1,500 points and took her tally in the Olympics Race to 4,360. Swiatek is chasing race leader Coco Gauff who has won the most points (4,825). It is pertinent to note that the Olympics Race began accruing points on June 12, 2023, and will do so for the next 12 months.
Gauff has won the most points thanks to three title wins during the US swing at 500, 1000, and Grand Slam levels. Jessica Pegula overtook both Marketa Vondrousova and Aryna Sabalenka and moved up to fifth. Ons Jabeur is the only African player in the Top 56 (cut-off entry).
Liudmila Samsonova and Madison Keys complete the Top 10. China's Qinwen Zheng is the only player assured of a place in the Paris Olympics tennis draw having won a gold medal at the Asian Games. Elina Svitolina won a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and has done great work to make it to the Top 30.
Defending gold medalist from Tokyo Belinda Bencic is unlikely to play next year's event after announcing she was pregnant with her first child. Because the WTA season has now come to an end, we won't see any changes at the top end of the race until next year.
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