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Iga Swiatek beats Ekaterina Alexandrova 7-6(7-5) 2-6 6-4 to reach Ostrava Open final
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Published 08/10/2022 at 20:25 GMT+1
Iga Swiatek's streak of not dropping a set since the US Open is over, but she remains unbeaten after a 7-6(7-5) 2-6 6-4 win over world No. 58 Ekaterina Alexandrova. Swiatek advanced to the Ostrava Open final with her tough victory against Alexandrova, where she will face local favourite and World No. 26 Barbora Krejcikova. Victory in the final would hand Swiatek her ninth title of the season.
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Video credit: SNTV
Iga Swiatek advances to the Ostrava Open Final after a 7-6(7-5) 2-6 6-4 win over Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Swiatek entered this match having yet to drop a set since the US Open Final last month, but that run came to an end in the second set of a tough match against the Russian challenger.
The Polish World No. 1 gutted out a tiebreaker in the first set but was swept away in the second, losing five straight games, and an upset appeared to be in the offing.
Alexandrova also beat Swiatek in their previous meeting, back in February 2021 so there was reason to believe she could finish what she had begun, but Swiatek had greater reserves of quality to draw upon, and she recovered to win her 60th match of the calendar year.
Swiatek admitted earlier in the week that she grew a lot as a player at the US Open this year, feeling compelled to win "without fireworks", and she did the same here.
It was the first time in Swiatek's career that she has reached a tournament final without holding at least one opponent to either zero or one game in a single set.
After the victory, Swiatek conceded that she had not been at her fluid best. She said: "It was super tough. We can feel that it's the end of the season. The second set I lacked energy for sure. I'm pretty happy that I could improve my level in the third set."
Local favourite and World No. 26 Barbora Krejcikova advanced to the final, beating Kazakh Elena Rybakina 3-6, 7-6, 6-4.
The 2021 French Open champion will present a tough test for Swiatek's 10-match winning streak. Krejcikova is yet to beat Swiatek so far in her career, having played the Polish champion twice before.
Victory in Ostrava would hand Swiatek her ninth title of the season. She has won both the French and US Opens as well as titles in Rome, Stuttgart, Miami, Indian Wells and Doha.
In a remarkable year, Swiatek has already won 60 singles matches, but she is well short of Martina Navratilova who twice won 90 matches.
The Ostrava Open, played in the Czech Republic city of Ostrava, was resurrected in 2020 after a 20-year hiatus in order to replace some of the many tournaments cancelled during the height of the pandemic.
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