[Epoch Times, April 3, 2022](Epoch Times reporter Wang Yezhi comprehensive report) On April 2, local time, in the women’s singles final of the WTA1000 Miami Open, the 20-year-old Polish star Swatek (Iga Swiatek defeated four-time Grand Slam champion and Japanese star Naomi Osaka 6-4/6-0 and won her third WTA 1000 singles title this year without dropping a set. The first “behind the ball” throne.
Batty retires Swatek to stand out
When world number one and 25-year-old Australian Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement during the Miami game, she still had a huge advantage of 2,000 points, which meant that even if she didn’t play, she could still be the “behind the ball”. For at least another month. However, this willful Australian girl insisted on walking away. There are seven players behind her with a score gap of less than 900 points. It seems that the women’s tennis world will enter an era of beauty and beauty.
However, Swatek, a Polish girl born in 2001, performed strongly this year, making competitors have to resign. From Doha to Indian Wells to Miami, Swatek has a 16-game winning streak in three consecutive WTA 1000 competitions. After advancing to the Miami final, she will take on the challenge of Naomi Osaka, just one win away from the three-peat.
In women’s tennis, people haven’t seen such a stable and dominant performance for too long, and the last time it was Naomi Osaka. From Cincinnati in 2020 to Miami in 2021, Naomi Osaka has won an astonishing 23 consecutive victories, all on hard courts, including the US Open and the Australian Open.
When she came to Miami this year, Naomi Osaka’s ranking had dropped to 77th. She had not advanced to a final in the past year. After Indian Wells was eliminated early, Naomi Osaka continued to see her psychiatrist. Last year she stumbled in Miami, and 13 months later, she reappeared in the finals to announce her return.
The first Polish “Queen of the Ball” in tennis history
After the start of the final, in the first serve game, the two fought fiercely for 11 minutes before Naomi Osaka made a thrilling serve. In the next few games, the two sides played very close until the fifth game, when Naomi Osaka sent a “double fault” under pressure. This game also became the turning point of the whole game. Swatek did not give the opponent any more, and kept the advantage until the end of the set, winning 6-4 first.
In the second set, Swatek continued his fiery touch and made a 3-0 start. After that, Naomi Osaka gradually lost control of her serve, hoping to suppress the opponent through a strong attack from the bottom line, but for Swatek, who has excellent defensive ability, this tactic did not work. The Polish star successfully “delivered eggs” in one go, and won another set 6-0 to win the championship.
This is Swatek’s 17th consecutive victory this year. The last time he won more than 17 consecutive games on hard courts in the same season was Serena Williams. The American won the 2015 Australian Open to the Rogers Cup in a row 20 games. In addition, Swatek became the fourth player to win the “Sunshine Double” (Indian Wells and Miami) in a row in the same year after Graf, Kristers and Azarenka. In the latest women’s singles world ranking list, Swatek will be on the “behind the ball” throne.
Swatek was born on May 31, 2001, and is only 20 years old this year. Three years ago, Swatek was still in school and playing on the tour. After winning the French Open in 2020, she became the first Polish player in history to win a Grand Slam title. Now she has become the first singles “world number one” from Poland in tennis history.
Responsible editor: Zheng Huang