The WTA 500 tournament was held in Adelaide, Australia, from 22-27 February. Twenty-eight players competed on hard courts to win the title with a prize pool of more than $500,000.
Iga Swiatek, the Roland Garros champion, was seeded under number five at the event. In the final, she beat No. 2 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-2, 6-2, in two sets. She won her second Tour title. The 19-year-old Polish player hit 22 shots on six unforced errors, giving up just six points on serve (2 of 22 on her first serve).
Swiatek is the first to win a tournament without losing a set since she did it herself at the French Open in October. Iga has lost 22 games in five matches. That’s an average of 4.4 games per match. The Pole will also move up to a record 15th place in the new WTA rankings.
In her short interview after the final match, the Pole shared her impressions of the tournament and her future goals.
“In the weeks that bring me the titles, of course, something happens. It’s not only in my head but also on the court. I feel very comfortable in the matches. So yes, there are weeks when I do well, but it’s a result of the work we do the rest of the time,”
the tennis player revealed.
Swiatek also admitted she’s happy to see that she can show good tennis all week and that Roland Garros wasn’t an isolated incident. According to her, it gives her confidence that she’s growing as a player and will be able to play at this level more often in the future. She’s very motivated by this.
“Our goal is to have weeks like this more often because I know I can. It’s important to plan things properly and to be able to approach top form as certain tournaments,”
Iga added.
Belinda Bencic, the Adelaide finalist, wasn’t left out and commented on her defeat to her opponent in the tournament’s final.
“It was complicated for me to read her game today. I couldn’t keep track of how she was serving or doing anything. She’s unpredictable; in every situation, she played a little bit differently from what I expected. She has atypical combinations, although I’m quite good at reading my opponents’ game. But today, I didn’t play well, and of course, it was my fault,”
said Bencic.
The Swiss also revealed Swiatek has a powerful spin and challenging shots. According to her, balls that seem to be reachable, in reality, the player doesn’t reach them. He bumps into them, which makes it harder to defend and counterattack.
“The next match against her, I would start differently. I don’t know how yet, but I would definitely change something – with today’s tactics, I wouldn’t go out,”
added Belinda.
By the way, the 23-year-old Swiss lost her seventh of 11 WTA finals.
We just want to congratulate Igu Schwentek on her victory and wish both tennis players further success in their sporting careers.