She failed to serve out the first set at her first attempt due to a slew of backhand mistakes and up 4-1 in the second, a pair of double faults cost her one of her breaks.īut these were only blips. Swiatek played her shakiest match of the Middle East swing to date, with some uncharacteristically loose games scattered throughout. Of Gauff's 20 unforced errors in the first set, 16 came from the forehand side. But more often than not, Swiatek's heavy first strikes enabled her to set the pace, and pummeling the Gauff forehand garnered her the first break of the match for 2-1. Keen to avoid it, Gauff went for bigger shots earlier in rallies on her backhand side, resulting in several fizzing winners. How the match was won: Swiatek's strategy of engaging the American in forehand-to-forehand exchanges is one that's served her well in all their meetings to date, and she deployed it again from the very first point of the match. No.1 seed moves past Gauff 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first final at the /DHNV0aQway Last October in Ostrava, Krejcikova snapped Swiatek's 10-match winning streak in finals with a 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 upset.
Swiatek will face either No.3 seed Jessica Pegula, whom she defeated 6-3, 6-0 in the Doha final last week, or former Roland Garros champion Barbora Krejcikova in the final. Gauff also managed to win more games than she has managed in any encounter with Swiatek since their first, where she fell 7-6(3), 6-3 at Rome 2021. But this was her tightest of those contests by some distance, and the only one in which Swiatek has not won a 6-0 or 6-1 set. Since Swiatek's fourth-round loss at the Australian Open to Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina, the World No.1 has dropped just 14 games in six matches.
She improves her undefeated record in WTA 1000 semifinals to 6-0, and extends her active winning streak to six following her successful title defence last week in Doha. The Pole advances to her 15th career final, and ninth at WTA 1000 level or above. Swiatek has yet to lose a set to Gauff in six meetings to date. No.1 seed Iga Swiatek continued her dominance of No.5 seed Coco Gauff in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semifinals, winning 6-4, 6-2 in 1 hour and 28 minutes.
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