Iga Swiatek will contest the WTA Finals final on Monday, and it comes after a historic run from the Polish player.
Swiatek played pretty well at the WTA Finals last year, making her way to the semi-final. She lost to Aryna Sabalenka but did much better this year by beating the Belarusian and booking her maiden WTA Finals final.
The opponent is Jessica Pegula, a tricky player who didn't drop a single set en route to the final. It's the same thing with Iga Swiatek, who also didn't drop a single set en route to the final. Not only that, but she dropped the fewest games by player en route to the final since 2007.
It was only a few years after the current round-robin format was introduced. Since its introduction, many greats competed at the event in that new format, with Justine Henin owning the most dominant run in terms of games dropped.
The Belgian former number one dropped only 19 games en route to the final in 2007. Obviously, because of the format, she played four matches. One semi-final match, and three in the round-robin stage. No player was ever as dominant as Henin that year until this year and Iga Swiatek.
The Polish player equalled Justine Henin in that regard, dropping only 19 games en route to the 2023 final. That's historic stuff, but even crazier thing is that her final opponent Pegula is in there as well. She dropped only 22 games so far, which is the 3rd best mark since Henin's 2007.
It's better than Serena Williams in 2012 when she dropped 25 games and Caroline Wozniacki in 2017 when she dropped 26 games. That's pretty amazing stuff, and it's a great advertisement for the final match in Cancun. Two historic runs by two great players. What more do you need?
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