Stuttgard Open: Iga Swiatek beats Liudmila Samsonova

It took her three hours and three minutes to sack a win over the world number 31. The Polish tennis player now has 22 straight match-wins on tour this year with her win-loss record up to 29-3.

After a gruelling semi-final match, Swiatek will face the third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in Sunday’s final. As the top five players battled it out, 2021 Stuttgart runner-up Sabalenka overcame number two seed Paula Badosa in Saturday's earlier semifinal. Swatiek's exceptionally brilliant run includes three consecutive WTA 1000 titles in Doha, Indian Wells, and Miami which was about to conclude due to Samsonova's competitive efforts in the semi-final. 

The Russian almost secured a tiebreak victory at the end of the 71-minute opening set. The women challenged each other throughout the match where Samsonova fought back twice from a breakdown in the third set, but Swiatek won. "For sure it was tough, and it seemed like a marathon," Swiatek mentioned. "It had many ups and downs, and I had to stay focused and find solutions. I knew that Liudmila played really great tennis, and I felt that on my racquet, so all credit to her."

How Swiatek Turned the Match Around

Swiatek exhibited a better success returning on first and second nerves which provided the Polish tennis player with an additional break in each of the last two sets to clinch the win. Despite the Russian player's loss, she had a commendable week in Germany before the event. Samsonova won her first singles title in Berlin 2021 as a 106th-ranked qualifier, and she secured her first career top 10 win after defeating Karolina Pliskova.

Swiatek established a 4-1 lead in the opening set but lost the lead to her strong opponent. The Russian returned four break points to equalize the score to 4-4 and dominated the tiebreak which later settled at 5-2. Samsonova ended the set after 5-4 after throwing two unreturned serves. The world number one couldn't crush Samsonova's spirits for the most of the second set, but at 4-4, the Polish star amassed the only break of that set. She served the set out at love, which took the match into the decider. 

Swiatek took a quick lead 3-1, in the third set but Samsonova won three games in a row to claim a 4-3 lead. However, Swiatek managed a late break, causing her opponent to make errors besides pushing the score 6-5 in Swatiek's favour. Swiatek subsequently served out the match, earning a spot in the finals. 

Swiatek vs Sabalenka

In Swiatek's next match against world number four Sabalenka, the players will get a chance to change their equal head-to-head score.