Porsche Tennis Grand Prix: Iga Swiatek after exertion in the final, where Sabalenka is waiting
After a tough match, world number one Iga Swiatek is in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2022. Last year's finalist Aryna Sabalenka is waiting there.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit:
Apr 23, 2022, 07:47 pm
Iga Swiatek lived up to her position as favorite at the WTA tournament in Stuttgart, but had to do everything possible to keep surprise semi-finalist Liudmila Samsonova (WTA No. 31) in check. In the end she needed 3 hours and 2 minutes for the 6:7, 6:4, 7:5 success and the match was completely open until the end.
Samsonova almost turned the tables on Swiatek: while Swiatek usually sets the pace against most of her opponents, here it was often Samsonova who was able to apply more pressure. And this week finally proved her strength on clay court, also to her own satisfaction. Last year she surprisingly won the WTA tournament in Berlin on grass for herself. At the same time, she said these days, she actually sees her greatest strength on sand, on which she grew up. That's exactly what she showed against Swiatek.
Swiatek now has 22 wins in a row
"It was tough," said the overjoyed Swiatek afterwards. "We both had a lot of ups and downs, it was a marathon. I'm glad I was more consistent in the end."
While Swiatek continued her winning streak with 22 match successes in a row, Samsonova stopped at least one run - the one of the sets won. Up until the match, Swiatek had 28 in a row.
Aryna Sabalenka back in the final - like in 2021
Aryna Sabalenka had previously blown a few air kisses in the direction of the winning red Porsche after winning her semi-final against Paula Badosa.
Here it was the expected tight game between the world number three from Spain and the world number four from Belarus. Sabalenka was chasing a 2:5 deficit in the first round, but managed to equalize and snatched an extremely important point from Badosa in the tie-break at 4:5: a long rally, in which Badosa threw a backhand down the line at the end full blast. But Sabalenka pulled out all the stops, got his turn and shot a forehand cross from the wrist - to win the point after Badosa couldn't stand after her supposed winner. Instead of 6: 4 for Badosa it was 5: 5, the set was over shortly afterwards.
In round two, Badosa also took the lead early with a break, but Sabalenka countered directly, in the end she took the serve from the Spaniard to zero, to victory.
Sabalenka can now catch up on what she had missed last year: she was clearly the better player in the final against Ashleigh Barty, but collapsed after winning the first set and only won two more games. However, Iga Swiatek will have something against it.