Barbora Krejcikova has stunned Iga Swiatek and the tennis world, beating the World No.1 in the Dubai final on Saturday night. Swiatek looked out of sorts as Krejcikova capped off an extraordinary week with a 6-4 6-2 victory in the decider.
Swiatek was unbeaten during the Middle East swing before Saturday’s final, having won the title in Qatar last week. But Krejcikova finally broke her red-hot streak to capture her first WTA 1000 singles title.
In doing so she became just the fifth player in WTA history to beat the No.1, 2 and 3 players in the world at one tournament. The Czech player beat World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka in the quarters before taking down No.2 Jessica Pegula in the semis.
“It means a lot,” Krejcikova said after winning her sixth WTA title. “It was a great week and I was improving in every game.
“Today, I showed my best tennis. Iga motivates me every day, it was a great final and I’m definitely happy with the result.”
The match didn’t come without controversy as Swiatek was hit with a time violation for taking too long in between the first and second sets. The World No.1 looked furious at being hit with the violation and remonstrated with the chair umpire.
Tennis fans and commentators were left divided over the incident. Some agreed that Swiatek had been taking too long, while others took aim at the umpire for being pedantic.
