Defending WTA Finals champion Iga Swiatek was eliminated from the season-ending championship on Thursday after Barbora Krejcikova’s 7-5, 6-4 win over Coco Gauff meant the Polish world No. 2 failed to advance to the last four.
Gauff was already guaranteed to make the semis, but Swiatek needed the American to beat the eighth-seeded Czech Krejcikova who required a victory herself to progress.
Wimbledon champion Krejcikova came to the WTA Finals seeking her first career win at the season-ending tournament.
On Thursday, she did one better, taking a must-win showdown against Gauff 7-5, 6-4 to top the Orange Group and advance to the semi-finals.
After Swiatek’s dominant win over Daria Kasatkina earlier in the day, Krejcikova’s victory led to a three- way tie in the Orange Group, with Krejcikova, Swiatek and Gauff each finishing with a 2-1 record.
In cases like this, the second tie-breaker — percentage of sets won — determines the standings. Krejcikova topped the group with a 5-2 set record (71.4%), followed by Gauff at 4-2 (66.7%) and Swiatek at 4-3 (57.1%).
As a result, Krejcikova won the group, with Gauff finishing second, leaving the Pole out of contention.
Gauff will face world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the semis, while Krejcikova takes on Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen.
Earlier on Thursday, Swiatek beat Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 in a match that was over in 51 minutes, the fastest match at the year-end finale in at least eight years.
She won an extraordinary 51 of 74 points and broke Kasatkina’s serve five of six times.
That gave Swiatek a 2-1 record in group play.
Swiatek had been scheduled to play Jessica Pegula, but she pulled out of the
last group match on Wednesday night with an injured left knee.
Pegula said she decided to withdraw because she was not feeling “comfortable moving on court.”
“It was a pretty solid game. It was a good performance,” said Swiatek. “I was hitting the ball really well and picking the right shorts to play faster.”
Swiatek broke Kasatkina’s first service game. And then the second. Swiatek won 28 of 35 points in racing to a 5-0 lead before Kasatkina claimed her first game at the 22-minute mark.
Three minutes later, Swiatek converted her second set point with a resounding ace.
Swiatek had lost four consecutive matches against top 10 players this year— Zheng Qinwen (Paris Olympics), Sabalenka (Cincinnati), Pegula (US Open) and Gauff (WTA Finals) — the longest such streak of her career.
Swiatek’s form has dipped in recent months, with Wim Fissette, who has helped several players win grand slam titles, replacing Tomasz Wiktorowski as her coach two weeks ago.
