Dubai Championships: Barbora Krejcikova stuns World No 1 Iga Swiatek in closing

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek was upset by Barbora Krejcikova 6-4, 6-2 within the closing of the Dubai Championships on Saturday.

Krejcikova closed the event by beating the highest three gamers within the WTA rankings: No. 3 Jessica Pegula within the quarterfinals, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka within the semifinals, then Swiatek. No. 8 Daria Kasaktina was additionally overcome within the second spherical.

The Czech is the fifth girl within the Open period to beat the world’s prime three on the identical occasion.

“It’s a big achievement and I think it’s going to give me a lot of confidence that I can play with the best ones,” Krejcikova stated.

The former French Open champion dominated the ultimate, breaking Swiatek 5 occasions. The Pole earned two breaks again within the first set, however Krejcikova then performed out a love break and held to like for the set.

In the second, she broke for 2-1 and 5-2 and simply held serve to win her sixth singles title.

“I showed my best tennis this week,” Krejcikova stated. “I was able to play my tennis but also hold the nerves.”

Her earlier title was in October, when she beat Swiatek for the primary time within the Ostrava closing.

“When you play with Iga, you have to suffer, otherwise you’re not going to win because she’s everywhere,” she stated. “She plays great shots. She likes to play long rallies. So you have to suffer. I don’t mind that.”

In polar reverse phases of their profession, the countrymen Yannik Paul and Marcel Siem are only one stroke aside on the prime of the leaderboard at a course that has seen one of many prime 3 beginning the ultimate spherical often emerge victorious.