Riyadh (Saudi Arabia): Former World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland started her campaign in the WTA Final with a clinical performance to a straight sets win against Madison Keys in the opening match here on Saturday.
In the second match of the day, Elena Rybakina used all her experience to get the better of Amanda Anisimova to launch her WTA Finals campaign in style. The No. 6 seed broke No. 4 seed Anisimova in the opening game and never looked back, cruising to a 6-3, 6-1 win in just 57 minutes.
The first singles match of the opening night of the season ender was a clash between two of the four Grand Slam winners in the draw. The No.2 Swiatek, the Wimbledon winner, defeated seventh-seeded Australian Open champion Madison Keys 6-1, 6-2.
“Kind of [happy] with everything,” Swiatek said. “Mostly my serve and overall focus. I was in the zone from the beginning to the end, and I really wanted to keep it that way.”
Keys is making a return from injury. She hadn’t played in 68 days, right after losing in the first round of the US Open. She looked sluggish, and her timing seemed off.
Swiatek won 12 of 15 games and 58 of 87 points, converting five of eight break points. It was over in 61 minutes. The 24-year-old from Poland now leads the head-to-head 6-2. Earlier, they had split this year’s two matches. Swiatek has won 62 tour-level matches so far in 2025, the most on tour.
The more immediate target is a title here, to go with her 2023 victory in Cancun. Swiatek recorded her first win in the Serena Williams Group, while Keys may well have to win her last two matches, against No. 4 Amanda Anisimova and No. 6 Elena Rybakina, to advance to the semifinals.
Keys, who returned to the practice courts after Saturday’s match, said she picked up a minor injury during the summer.
“I just kept trying to play through it,” she said. “It was just one of those things where I couldn’t ever be 100 percent. Just felt like the best decision for me to have the best opportunity for the Finals was to kind of take some time, get healthy.”
Keys is participating in her second year-end championship, going back to her initial breakthrough in 2016. Her record is now 1-3.
(IANS)
