Iga Swiatek needs Coco Gauff’s help to advance in the WTA Finals

Thursday marks the final day of the group stage at the WTA Finals. While Iga Swiatek’s dominant play against Daria Kasatkina was not surprising, her precarious position in the tournament is shocking to some tennis fans.

Kasatkina was given the difficult task of filling in for Jessica Pegula at the last minute after the sixth seed withdrew with a knee injury. Swiatek easily defeated Kasatkina in straight sets: 6-1, 6-0.

Swiatek failed to avenge his US Open quarterfinal loss to Pegula, setting off a series of events that included two months off and a sudden coaching change. But she looked dominant in just her third game since September.

Swiatek took out Kasatkina in 53 minutes to improve to 2-1 in the round-robin-style group stage at the WTA Finals. However, Swiatek is not yet guaranteed a place in the semi-finals.

Coco Gauff defeated Swiatek in straight sets on Tuesday, and now Swiatek needs Gauff’s help to advance. If Gauff loses to Barbora Krejcikova later today, then Swiatek is eliminated from the tournament.

So far, Gauff is 2-0 in the WTA Finals with impressive wins over Pegula and Swiatek. However, Gauff has only faced Krejcikova once before, and that was a loss in the 2021 French Open quarterfinals. Of course, three years is old history in tennis, and Gauff is the heavy favorite in today’s match.

Swiatek cannot finish higher than no. 2 in the WTA rankings at the end of the year. However, she can still repeat as WTA Finals champion. It just starts with a little help from Gauff today. If Swiatek advances to the knock-out round, she will need to continue playing at a high level to pull off the incredible comeback.

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