Swiatek praised for her 'high level'
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SAN DIEGO - Top-ranked Iga Swiatek, seeking her eighth WTA Tour title of the year, cruised to a 6-0, 6-3 win over world No. 8 Coco Gauff on Friday to reach the San Diego Open semi-finals.
In a rematch of the 2022 French Open women's final, the Pole, 21, sent the 18-year-old American packing in 65 minutes.
Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek advanced to the semi-finals, which will be played on Sunday morning, Singapore time, against sixth-ranked Jessica Pegula.
The American, 28, had defeated 18th-ranked compatriot Madison Keys 6-4, 7-5.
Swiatek has had a sizzling season, with only eight defeats, including a final loss to Barbora Krejcikova in Ostrava earlier in October.
Helped by a 37-match winning run earlier in the year, she is sitting comfortably at the world No. 1 spot, with 5,600 points separating her from second-ranked Ons Jabeur.
Not surprisingly, many have tipped her to be the favourite to win the season-ending WTA Finals from Oct 31-Nov 7 in Fort Worth, Texas.
"At the moment, there is a lack of players who could compete with her on an equal footing," former world No. 2 Agnieszka Radwanska told Telewizja Polska recently.
"Iga is excellent. She has been No. 1 for a long time. It represents a style at a very high level. At the moment there is no worthy competitor. No one is able to maintain that level in the long run."
San Diego will be Swiatek's final tournament before the WTA Finals. She told the WTA website she intends to spend her remaining free week after San Diego to train in the US.
Ahead of her semi-final, Swiatek, who has a 3-1 head-to-head advantage over Pegula, said she is happy to play against her because the American is "really, really solid".
Croatia's 77th-ranked Donna Vekic also made the San Diego semi-finals by ousting fifth-ranked Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-1. Vekic will next face 19th-ranked American Danielle Collins, who stunned Spain's Paula Badosa 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
Elsewhere, Britain's Andy Murray fell to American Sebastian Korda in the ATP Gijon Open quarter-finals on Friday 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.
AFP
SAN DIEGO OPEN
Final: StarHub Ch201, Monday, 7am
