2024 WTA Finals SF: Sabalenka v Gauff, Zheng v Krejcikova SF; Swiatek Wins But Out
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Iga Swiatek dropped just one game in crushing alternate Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-0 on the last day of the round robin at the WTA Finals in Riyadh. But finishing 2-1 and with an easy win wasn’t enough to put the 2-time defending champion in the semifinals.
That’s because she also needed Coco Gauff to beat Barbora Krejcikova, and that didn’t happen. The Czech stunned Gauff 7-5, 6-4 to win the Orange Group, sliding Gauff to second and Swiatek out.
Swiatek said after she wasn’t aware of the scenario that her win was meaningless — had Gauff won, Swiatek would have won the tiebreaker over Krejcikova.
With all three players at 2-1, the tiebreaker when to sets won. Krejcikova was 5-2, Gauff 4-2 and Swiatek 4-3.
Gauff was just 1-for-12 on break chances in the loss and drops to 0-2 against Krejcikova.
“Well I was definitely super excited to be here, to come here, to qualify to play against the best ones,” Krejcikova said to the WTA. “I don’t really know where everything started to come together. Before the tournament, I had a couple of days where we hit lightly and already during those hits, I felt quite good. And I think definitely for me, it’s a big thing that it’s the last tournament of the season.”
Tomorrow in the semifinals, Gauff will now take on Aryna Sabalenka with Krejcikova facing Zheng Qinwen.
Gauff and Sabalenka have split eight meetings.
FRIDAY WTA FINALS RIYAHD SCHEDULE
Start 3:30pm Doubles Semifinal
[2] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) / Erin Routliffe (NZL) vs [6] Nicole Melichar-Martinez (USA) / Ellen Perez (AUS)
Not Before 6:00pm Singles Semifinal
[7] Zheng Qinwen (CHN) vs [8] Barbora Krejcikova (CZE)
[1] Aryna Sabalenka vs [3] Coco Gauff (USA)
[8] Katerina Siniakova (CZE) / Taylor Townsend (USA) vs [7] Chan Hao-Ching (TPE) / Veronika Kudermetova
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