Czech Barbora Krejcikova dominated Poland’s Iga Swiatek in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Dubai on Saturday, becoming the fifth player in history to defeat world No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 in the same week.
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Krejcikova needed just 91 minutes and two sets (6-4, 6-2) to defeat Swiatek and secure the sixth title of his career, the most prestigious after his coronation at Roland Garros in 2021.
Thanks to this convincing success against the completely overwhelmed world No. 1, the Czech will move up from 30th to 16th in the WTA rankings on Monday.
She also cemented her place in women’s tennis history when in the United Arab Emirates she defeated world No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarterfinals, world No. 3 Jessica Pegula in the semifinals and thus world No. 1 Swiatek , defeated in the final .
Before her, only four players had accomplished such a feat: Steffi Graff at Roland Garros in 1999, Serena Williams in Miami in 2002, her older sister Venus at the Masters at the end of the 2008 season, and Sabalenka also at the 2022 Masters.
“What I’ve achieved this week is tremendous,” admitted Krejcikova.
“I’m really happy, it was a great final against a player I admire a lot,” continued the 27-year-old right-hander.
As in Ostrava
She can boast of bringing down Swiatek from a very high level: the Pole won the title in Doha last weekend and has chained eight straight victories before this final.
Even stronger: The number 1 in the world, who benefited from the package of the Czech Karolina Pliskova in the quarterfinals, had lost by only nine games in Dubai before the duel, unheard of in a WTA 1000 tournament of the title.
But in the final she never managed to find answers against the power of Krejcikova, more agile and inspired.
The Czech, who was very close to elimination in the second round, scored six aces in the match, always leading the race and taking five serves from her opponent.
Long categorized as a doubles specialist, Krejcikova, then world 33rd, caused a stir in 2021 with a win on the Romand Garros clay court when she had never reached the round of 16 in a Grand Slam tournament.
While she finished second in the world in February, her 2022 season was very disappointing, with a forced three-month layoff due to an elbow injury, first-round elimination at Roland Garros and repeated failures until the fall, when she settled down by taking won in front of her home crowd in Ostrava by beating in the final… Swiatek, yes.