Swiatek Puts Pliskova In Bagel Bakery In Rome Rout

Iga Swiatek continued to show why she’s among the elite on the clay. Today in Italy, she destroyed former champion Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 to capture the Rome Masters title.

Swiatek took home the 10th record double bagel WTA final (first in a Rome final) in just 46 minutes.

“From the beginning I felt that she may be a little bit nervous, and I wanted to use that and actually play as many games with that vibe as I can,” Swiatek said. “That’s why it was pretty fast at the beginning.

“But it’s not easy to actually win the first set 6-0, because you always have in the back of the mind that your opponent may start playing better and they can change the tactics completely, and then you have to adjust and then you’re going to start worrying.”

After saving two match points earlier in the week, there was little for Swiatek to worry about today as the Pol efficiently took advantage of a listless Pliskova.

The 19-year-old Swiatek has now won 16 of her last 17 matches on the red clay, and will go into her title defense at Roland Garros as arguably the favorite or at least No. 2 behind Ash Barty. And her third career title breaks her into the Top 10.

“It is pretty crazy and I’m really proud of myself that I’m actually starting to be more consistent, because that was my goal from the beginning,” Swiatek said of reaching the Top 10.

“So I’m really proud that I’m gonna have, you know, in my résumé that I’m top 10, because I always wanted that. Yeah, I also want to be consistent. So right now our goal is to, you know, keep me in that place and go further. Yeah.”

Pliskova, who was seeking her first title since the start of 2020, couldn’t even muster a game despite having one of the biggest serves in the women’s sport. Pliskova managed just four points in the first set and nine in the second during her worst career loss.

“I think she really played great. She didn’t give me anything,” Pliskova said. “I just was feeling horrible out there today. That’s one of those days. But I think she really made it extremely difficult for me to do any point and just to play any, you know, like anything from my game. She was playing super fast. I thought she was just going for it.

“I think she had amazing day and I had horrible day. That’s one of those, like, the combination which I guess that can happen.”

“You can see she’s really extremely confident on clay,” she added. “So I think she was just feeling amazing.”

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