Wimbledon champion Swiatek wins Korea Open

SEOUL, Sept. 21 (Yonhap) -- The reigning Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek mounted a big rally to capture her 25th Women's Tennis Association (WTA) title in Seoul on Sunday.

Swiatek, world No. 2 from Poland, overcame a dismal start to defeat 11th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia 1-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 for the Korea Open title at Olympic Park Tennis Center.

The memorable duel between the top two seeds went on for two hours and 43 minutes before nearly 9,500 fans.

Alexandrova broke Swiatek to start the match and built a 4-1 lead when the match was barely 20 minutes old after breaking Swiatek twice.

The Russian player then held her serve to go up 5-1. Trying to extend the set in the next game, Swiatek committed two straight double faults to drop the opening set 6-1 after only 31 minutes.

Swiatek broke her opponent to begin the second set, showing some signs of life with solid winners.

But in the second game, Alexandrova battled back from 40-15 down to break Swiatek and level the game score at 1-1.

Back and forth they went, trading a game until they ended up in a tiebreak.

Swiatek found second gear with her serves in the tiebreak, going up 3-0 en route to a 7-3 win that knotted the match at one set apiece.

After the players each held their serve to open the third set, Swiatek had three consecutive double faults to hand the third game to Alexandrova, who then won the next game to take a 3-1 lead.

But Swiatek fought back to take the next two games to pull even at 3-3, breaking Alexandrova for only the second time in the match in the process.

Swiatek then held her serve to grab a 4-3 lead. But she wasted a chance to break Alexandrova again in the next game and take a 5-3 stranglehold, as Alexandrova fought back from a 15-40 deficit to even the set at 4-4 instead.

Swiatek then staved off two break points to win the next game for a 5-4 lead, only to see Alexandrova overcome two double faults to hold her serve and level the score at 5-5.

Swiatek answered by taking the next game. And with Alexandrova suddenly looking off with her groundstrokes, Swiatek capped her comeback with a forehand winner into the left corner.

This was Swiatek's first Korea Open appearance. Alexandrova, the 2022 champion here, was trying to become the first player to win multiple Korea Open titles.

jeeho@yna.co.kr
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