Iga Swiatek won the battle of players who reached the world no. 1 rank on the WTA Tour, beating Angelique Kerber at the 2024 Italian Open.
In the match before this in Rome, the Pole faced Yulia Putitnseva, who gave her some trouble. The first set was largely unproblematic for the Polish player, but she was down in the second set only to rally late to win in two sets. This match against veteran Kerber was quite similar.
The first set was a bit more complicated, but she was still able to win it without too many complications. Kerber did break Swiatek in the opening set, but she never led in that one. Swiatek just failed to serve it out at 5-3 but did it at 6-5, so overall, it wasn't such a huge issue.
The second set was the more problematic one because Swiatek fell behind early. It was quite similar to the match against Putitnseva, as she once again dropped her focus a little bit, and her opponent was able to take advantage of that.
It wouldn't last long, though, as the Polish player would immediately break back and almost break one more time the next time Kerber served. The German was able to wiggle out of some tricky situations in this match, which is super commendable.
Kerber wouldn't hold on for too long because Swiatek was able to find her focus again, and once she did, she overpowered the German. The reality is that Swiatek is just too good for the overwhelming majority of the Tour, especially on clay.
It takes something special to take her down, and Kerber didn't have it today, at least not for the whole duration of the match. She had some bright moments, which is good to see, but overall, Swiatek was too strong, winning the match 7-5, 6-3.
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