Iga Swiatek recovers to beat Marketa Vondrousova at WTA Finals, Coco Gauff thrashes Ons Jabeur

On day two of the WTA Finals in Cancun, there were contrasting wins for Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff.

In the first match of Chetumal Group, Swiatek fell 5-2 and two breaks of serve behind to Marketa Vondrousova in the opening set before rallying to force a tie-break.

The pick of the bunch for the world No. 2 on her comeback was a stunning backhand winner down the line at the end of the longest point of the match that restored parity at 5-5.

In the breaker, Swiatek lost the first two points before winning the next seven of eight to seize the momentum and early advantage.

From there, the Pole was dominant, going on to complete a 7-6(3) 6-0 victory in an hour and 40 minutes.

“Honestly,” Swiatek told reporters, “even in the first part of the match, I wasn’t feeling like I was playing bad. I just felt like I was making mistakes on the last shots within the rally.

“I felt that there was, for sure, room for improvement, but I didn’t need to change a lot. So I just wanted to be more precise and more solid – not play risky.”

The 22-year-old is now 3-0 against Vondrousova and became the first player to win more than 20 sets 6-0 in consecutive seasons since Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in the 1991-92.

There was also a bagel in the second match of the group between Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur.

Gauff, the US Open champion, was rampant in defeating the beaten Wimbledon finalist 6-0 6-1.

It was Gauff’s first win at the WTA Finals, having gone 0-6 across the singles and doubles last year and she did it in double-quick fashion.

The 19-year-old raced into a 3-0 lead after just seven minutes and went on to capture the first set in less than half an hour.

There was a rain delay before the second set, after which Jabeur won her first game of the match to make it 1-1, but it proved only to delay the inevitable as Gauff sealed the 59-minute victory with a five-game flurry.

The win was Gauff’s 50th of the season, becoming the first teenager to achieve this feat since Caroline Wozniacki in 2009, while she is also the first American teenager to win a WTA finals match since Venus Williams in 1999.

“Ons is a great player, so I felt really unsteady the whole match even though it didn’t [look] like that,” Gauff said. “But I’m just happy to finally get a win here in this event.”

Swiatek and Gauff will face each other next in the group phase on Wednesday in what will be their 10th career meeting.