Field Level Media
14 May 2022, 21:49 GMT+10
World No. 1 and top-seeded Iga Swiatek won her 27th consecutive match on Saturday, defeating No. 3 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome.
The 20-year-old from Poland advanced to her fifth straight WTA Tour final -- all of which she has won so far.
She will face either Ons Jabeur or Daria Kasatkina in the final on Sunday having lost only 17 games this week.
Her run of 27 straight wins ties Serena Williams (2014-15) for the fourth-longest streak this century. Venus Williams won 35 straight in 2000.
"At these tournaments where we play day after day, we don't really get time to celebrate," Swiatek said. "Right after we finish the previous match, we have to think about the next one. It's pretty tough. But I know that after I'm going to be really proud of myself. For sure I'm going to have time to think about what I did.
"But, yeah, I mean, I'm just constantly surprising myself that I can do better and better. I feel like I actually can believe now that the sky's the limit. That's the fun part, for sure."
Swiatek moved to 30-0 at WTA 1000 tournaments when she wins the first set.
She also defeated Sabalenka, the World No. 8 from Belarus, in the final in Stuttgart last month.
On Saturday, Swiatek needed just 31 minutes to capture the first set, taking advantage of 16 unforced errors to just three winners for Sabalenka. Swiatek also converted three of four break chances.
In the second set, Swiatek took a 4-0 lead and cashed in on three of 11 break chances to win the match.
"I'm pretty happy that I learned the lessons on previous matches," Swiatek said. "On previous matches, I felt like I'm kind of letting my opponents come back to the match a little bit. This time I wanted to put pressure on my opponent from the beginning till the end. I think Aryna was under pressure, so it really helped me and that was my tactics."
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