Swiatek downs Bencic for second WTA title of career in Adelaide

Iga Swiatek served up a masterclass in the final of the Adelaide International on Saturday, losing just six points in eight service games to beat Belinda Bencic, 6-2, 6-2, and win her second WTA title.

She has now won 16 of her last 18 matches, starting with her run to the French Open title last fall.

“For sure it’s good for me, because I can see that I can play good tennis for the whole week. It wasn’t like one time during the French Open,” Swiatek said. “It gives me more confidence that I’m a more developed player, and I can play well more often. It just gives me motivation. It’s good.”

It looked like it would be a close final early on, as the two players traded comfortable holds in the first four games of the match. But the No. 5-seeded Swiatek caught fire from 2-all, winning 10 of the next 12 games to completely run away with it against the No. 2-seeded Bencic after just 67 minutes on court. She finished the match with almost four times as many winners as unforced errors, 22 to 6.

Swiatek also didn’t lose a set all week, not even losing more than four games in any set—just like at Roland Garros. And her win over the No. 12-ranked Bencic was the third-biggest win of her career, after beating No. 2 Simona Halep and No. 6 Sofia Kenin en route to that first major title in Paris.

The No. 18-ranked Pole is projected to make her Top 15 debut on the WTA rankings on Monday.

“My goal for 2020 was to be Top 10, but everything changed since we have the pandemic and the rankings are frozen. I know I would have kind of a different ranking if they weren’t frozen,” she said.

“Right now I’m just not looking at it, not comparing myself to other players. I’m just doing my job. I don’t have any more ranking goal. We’re going to see how it’s going to go with all the changes.”

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Swiatek’s next tournament will be the WTA 1000 in Dubai, which kicks off a week from Sunday.

“I’m planning to go to Dubai. Yesterday we decided after the match we’re going to withdraw from Doha because of some intense weeks here. I don’t want to have injury or anything. I want my body to rest properly. Also I’m going to have more time to fight with jet lag, just travel in peace, not in a hurry.

“These kinds of things really have a big impact.”

Bencic, meanwhile, was very impressed with Swiatek’s game after their first career meeting.

“I think she has a really big game. It’s very unique,” the Swiss said. “I struggled a lot today with how differently she played—I just couldn’t figure out, like, her patterns or her serve, or anything at all.

“Then my game, it didn’t fall apart, but I couldn’t get into my game at all. That’s what she does well. She’s playing very freely, still very confident. For sure very impressive, and congratulations to her.”

It was still a great week for Bencic, who reached her 11th career WTA final, and first since 2019.

“After all I think it was a really positive week," the former No. 4 told reporters. "I didn’t expect to be in the final here—I think we did a good bit of work coming from how I played in the Australian Open, and before that to coming here. So I definitely feel much more comfortable on the court.

“I want to take this momentum into the next tournaments, kind of take this like a little bit of a boost.”