Unstoppable Swiatek outdoes Jabeur for fifth WTA title in a row in Rome

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek continued her total domination of the women’s tour on Sunday, outdoing Ons Jabeur, 6-2, 6-2, to capture her fifth WTA title in a row in Rome.

The 20-year-old Pole’s winning streak is now up to 28 matches in a row, which is the standalone fourth-longest WTA winning streak of the century so far.

LONGEST WTA WINNING STREAKS SINCE 2000:
35: Venus Williams (Wimbledon through Linz in 2000)
34: Serena Williams (Miami through Wimbledon in 2013)
32: Justine Henin (Toronto in 2007 through Australian Open in 2008)
28: Iga Swiatek (Doha in 2022 to present)

With back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back titles at Doha, Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart and Rome—all of which are WTA 1000s except for Stuttgart, which is a WTA 500—Swiatek is also the first player since Serena Williams in 2013 to win five straight WTA events. That year, the 23-time Grand Slam champion won Miami, Charleston, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros amidst the 34-match winning streak listed above, before finally losing to Sabine Lisicki in the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Even more daunting: Swiatek has now won her last eight WTA finals in a row, all in straight sets, with none of the sets closer than 6-4.

SWIATEK’S CAREER WTA FINALS (8-1):
l. to Hercog, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, in 2019 Lugano F (WTA 250)
d. Kenin, 6-4, 6-1, in 2020 Roland Garros F (Grand Slam)
d. Bencic, 6-2, 6-2, in 2021 Adelaide F (WTA 500)
d. Pliskova, 6-0, 6-0, in 2021 Rome F (WTA 1000)
d. Kontaveit, 6-2, 6-0, in 2022 Doha F (WTA 1000)
d. Sakkari, 6-4, 6-1, in 2022 Indian Wells F (WTA 1000)
d. Osaka, 6-4, 6-0, in 2022 Miami F (WTA 1000)
d. Sabalenka, 6-2, 6-2, in 2022 Stuttgart F (WTA 500)
d. Jabeur, 6-2, 6-2, in 2022 Rome F (WTA 1000)

Rome has also become the first WTA event that Swiatek has won twice.

Though Jabeur had won the pair’s last two meetings, at Wimbledon and Cincinnati last year, Swiatek has been steamrolling the competition over the last few months, and early on in Sunday’s final it looked like it was going to be another one of those days as she raced out to a 6-2, 4-0 lead in less than an hour.

Jabeur, who came into the final on her own winning streak of 11 matches in a row—a run that took her to the biggest title of her career at the WTA 1000 event in Madrid last week—came alive from there, winning the next two games to close the gap to 6-2, 4-2 and bringing up four break points in the next game, including triple break point at 0-40, that would have put the second set back on serve.

But Swiatek dug out the hold for 6-2, 5-2 and broke one last time to seal the deal.

Next stop for the 2020 Roland Garros champion: Roland Garros.