How do you beat Iga Swiatek in a final? For two years, it has been one of the most insoluble problems in women’s tennis. Coming into the title round of the Ostrava Open, the Polish world No 1 had won each of her past 10 finals, all in straight sets. Along with death and taxes, Swiatek making off with the winner’s trophy had become one of life’s few racing certainties.
Yet sport rarely remains predictable for long, and gathering silverware is a far more complicated business than the 21-year-old has made it seem this season. On Sunday, Barbora Krejcikova solved the Swiatek conundrum, although the Czech hardly laid down a template for others to follow. Over the course of a thrillingly unpredictable three hours and 16 minutes, Krejcikova lost five of the first six games, levelled the opening set only to lose it, came within two points of a straight-sets defeat, and then forced a decider in which she eventually prevailed only after Swiatek had saved five championship points. Textbook stuff it was not, but Krejcikova’s epic 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win – the second-longest of the season – made for an absorbing spectacle.
“It’s a huge victory,” said Krejcikova. “It was a great match, one of the biggest matches that I ever played, and also with the fans and everything, the atmosphere was just very energetic and unbelievable for both sides. So it’s really one of the top matches that I ever played in my life.”
That is quite a statement coming from the 26-year-old Czech, who won her first major title at Roland Garros last year and completed a career grand slam in doubles alongside her compatriot Katerina Siniakova at the US Open only a few weeks ago. Yet Krejcikova, whose first WTA 500 title followed hard on the heels of last week’s victory in Tallinn, had a point. The win was significant not only for its magnitude, but also for the manner and circumstances in which it was won.
The Czech had to overcome not only the world’s best player, but also her own inner demons and the unusual challenge of playing on home soil before a raucous crowd that was very much divided in its loyalties. Krejcikova had lost both her previous meetings with Swiatek, the most recent of which came in Rome last year, when she held match points. As Swiatek stubbornly refused to go quietly, the chants of “Iga! Iga! Iga!” that rained down from the stands in the eastern Czech city – which lies close enough to the Polish border to ensure that she enjoyed plentiful support all week – might easily have proved demoralising for Krejcikova. Yet she held firm to avoid another near miss against the reigning French and US Open champion and claim the fifth title of her career.
“I was just telling myself, ‘Keep going,’” said Krejcikova. “She’s a great champion, she’s a great player, so I was expecting this; she wasn’t going to give it to me easy. So I was like, ‘OK, keep going, it’s going to be fine, you’re going to get your chance, you’re going to make it.’ That was my inner voice.”
Quite what Krejcikova’s inner voice was telling her after she missed a trio of early break points is another matter. The Czech’s ability to redirect the ball and force her opponent into the corners augured well for her challenge, but a combination of boldness and obduracy from Swiatek denied her the first two chances. When Krejcikova then swept a forehand approach long to squander the third, her game abruptly went into a tailspin. It seemed another of the ritual slaughters in which Swiatek specialises was taking shape.
Yet the Pole, who was pushed all the way by Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova in the semi-finals, has not had things all her own way in Ostrava, and for a second successive match she was forced to fight tooth and nail. As Krejcikova began to rediscover her fluency, Swiatek’s level dipped. The Pole recovered, tenaciously fending off three break points at 5-5 to stem the tide before nailing a forehand return winner to seal the set, but Krejcikova refused to buckle.
The Czech shrugged off the disappointment of seeing an early second-set break cancelled out in the eighth game, held her nerve as she served to stay in the contest at 5-5, 30-30, and established an unassailable 6-1 lead in the ensuing tiebreak with some breath-taking defensive play, scrambling from a seemingly impossible position to steer a pass beyond the bemused Swiatek with the help of the net cord. Swiatek had lost only once in 49 outings this year after winning the opening set, but for once there would be no comeback. Krejcikova broke to love in the eighth game of the decider and, for all Swiatek’s late defiance, she would not be caught.
Swiatek was sanguine in defeat. Only Polona Hercog had previously got the better of her in a final, the Slovenian consigning her to a three-set defeat on the clay courts of Lugano in April 2019, but the Pole recognised that she had contributed richly to one of the season’s best finals.
“The atmosphere was something that I don’t think I experienced ever,” said Swiatek. “I never saw something like that, honestly. So I’m pretty happy to be part of that, and to play such nice tennis against Barbora. I think we did a really great show so, even though I lost, I feel pretty happy and proud of myself.
“My goal [was] to fight till the end, and for the last ball. I know sometimes how hard it is to close the match. So I didn’t give anything for free. I just wanted to do as best as possible in those circumstances, with all these people, because they also deserve the fight.
“For sure my confidence overall is pretty high after this season, because I really proved [to] myself that I can play in any circumstances.”
In another sign of her determination to make positive use of her platform as the world’s top-ranked player, Swiatek will donate her prize money from the week to a Polish mental health charity.
Krejcikova, meanwhile, can reflect with satisfaction on a resurgent end to a season marred by the elbow injury that prevented her from mounting a meaningful defence of her French Open title. Having started the year by reaching the Australian Open quarter-finals and attaining a career-high ranking of No 2, the Czech has the air of a woman determined to reclaim her place at the game’s top table.
“For sure my game is improving,” said Krejcikova. “I’m working very hard every day to get better every single time, so I’m just really happy that things are clicking together and I’m improving, and I can play the biggest matches with the biggest players.”
Also improving is Elise Mertens, who won her first title of the season – and seventh in all – at the Jasmin Open in the Tunisian city of Monastir. The Belgian swept aside Alizé Cornet, the third seed, 6-2, 6-0.
“Never stop believing, I guess,” said Mertens. “I have my seventh title.”