Iga Swiatek defeated Jessica Pegula in the final and secured first place in the rankings
Iga Swiatek defeated Jessica Pegula to win the season-ending WTA final and move back to the top of the women’s rankings.
The Pole needed to beat the American in the final in Cancun to overtake Aryna Sabalenka as world number one, and she did so with a dominant 6-1, 6-0 win.
The 22-year-old was in a clinical mood as Pegula struggled to find her range in a game that lasted just 59 minutes.
It is the first time that Swiatek has won the WTA Finals tournament.
She is the youngest champion of the tournament since Petra Kvitova won in 2011 at the age of 21.
“I would like to thank my team, who have been by my side all season,” said Swiatek.
“We have had many ups and downs, but this is certainly an upswing and we will have many more if we continue to work like this.”
The final was held a day later on Monday due to bad weather, but was played in sunshine at the venue in Cancun, Mexico.
Swiatek got out of the blocks quickly, breaking off his feet in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead before racing away to take the first set in 27 minutes.
It was the first set lost by a player in the event and Pegula, the world number five, lost her serve for the third time in the first game of the second set.
Swiatek overwhelmed her opponent and took a 3-0 lead to secure her sixth WTA title of the season.
The win ensured Swiatek will finish the year as world number one for the second year in a row.
In 2022, she recorded a remarkable 37 consecutive wins and six consecutive titles, maintaining herself as the highest-ranked player – where she would remain for 75 weeks until Sabalenka replaced her in September of that year.
“2022 was so great that I don’t know if it will be possible for me to repeat a season like that,” said Swiatek.
“In the end, I just didn’t feel like I was in the shadows anymore because I knew I was going to have another great season.”
“I learned my lesson and this time I didn’t want to [the number one ranking] have an effect on me. It worked for a bit, it’s hard not to think about things like that, but I knew I had to focus on other things.
