It was an eventful yet shinning day of Iga Swiatek in the rain-soaked Korea Open as she ripped away two convincing wins to secure her a place in the finals.
Top two in the world defeated two-time Grand Slam champion Barbora Krejcikova 6-0, 6-3 in a rearranged quarterfinal. She only broke a few minutes after, and was back on the court, demolishing a teaming Australian teenager, Maya Joint 6-0, 6-2 to secure her spot in the championship match.
Swiatek is next followed by the second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova who defeated Katerina Siniakova 6-4, 6-2 in the other semifinal.
Swiatek said she will simply concentrate on herself and the targets that she had and still does before the tournament, as it has been working so far. My last one should be the most challenging and it always brings about a new kind of stress and that is why I am simply glad that I have already had great matches here.
Having defeated Clara Tauson 6-0, 6-3, earlier, Joint had no solutions to the insatiable speed and accuracy of Swiatek. It took the top seed only 25 minutes to go through the opening set. She only stumbled a little in the second, but Swiatek soon recovered, and she ended the match in a slamming smash at the net.
This will be the first final appearance of the 24 years old Pole in Seoul and an opportunity to win her third trophy of the season. Swiatek, whose father, Tomasz, rowed in the 1988 Olympic in Seoul with Poland, is also trying to bridge the gap with the world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka who withdrew recently in China Open because of her victory at the U.S. Open.
In the meantime, Alexandrova comes into the final in good form having also fought rain- postponed games. She then defeated Ella Seidel 6-2, 6-3 after which she sent Siniakova back to the semis.
Swiatek vs. Alexandrova will be a significant battle in Seoul, as both rivals are seeking some piece of silverware to end a week of bad weather.
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