Iga Swiatek keeps year-end No 1 hopes alive, but faces in-form Coco Gauff next

Shahida Jacobs 06 Oct 2023 10:00 AM

Iga Swiatek of Poland reacts

Iga Swiatek remains in the running to secure the year-end WTA No 1 ranking after a battling victory over Caroline Garcia at the China Open.

The second half of the 2023 season has been a frustrating one so far for Swiatek as she lost the world No 1 spot to Aryna Sabalenka and also failed to defend her US Open crown.

In fact, since winning her home title – the Poland Open – at the end of July, the four-time Grand Slam winner has lost four matches, including a round of 16 defeat to Jelena Otapenko at the US Open.

And Garcia threatened to make it five defeats at one point during their quarter-final match in Beijing as she won the opening set before Swiatek stormed back to win 6-7 (8-10), 7-6 (7-5), 6-1.

The win not only keeps her hopes of a first WTA 1000 title of the 2023 campaign alive, but she is also still in the two-player race with Sabalenka for the year-end No 1 ranking, although the Pole is facing an uphill battle.

Year-end No 1 ranking permutations

Sabalenka has a 1,071-point lead over Swiatek in the official WTA Rankings and all she needs to do to finish the year at No 1 is better the Pole’s result in China.

Swiatek, of course, is one step ahead of the Belarusian as she has already reached the semi-final while Sabalenka still has to play later in the day and she faces a difficult clash as she takes on world No 5 Elena Rybakina.

If Sabalenka ends up winning the China Open – or just better her No 1 rival’s result, then Swiatek won’t be able to catch her before the season comes to an end.

However, if the Pole wins the Beijing title then the fight will go down to the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, where 1,500 points will be awarded to a player if they go undefeated during the tournament.

However, Swiatek has a tricky semi-final clash on her hands as she faces the in-form Gauff for a place in the final after the American defeated Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-4 to notch up her 16th win in a row. Gauff also beat Swiatek en route to winning the Cincinnati Open in August.

Swiatek, though, admitted before her clash against Garcia that the No 1 ranking is no longer her main priority.

“I had that No 1 ranking for a long time. I feel like I deserve time to regroup a little bit, then be better,” she explained. “But sometimes chasing something or really focusing on, I don’t know, how do you say that? Sorry, I forgot the word. Like giving up some stuff that seemed right to chase or to gain more points, it’s not the right way to go. I kind of understood that.

“I’m happy that I chose to play and my coaches chose for me only to play Tokyo and Beijing and the Finals.”