Iga Swiatek with the Korea Open title© AFP
Iga Swiatek battled back from a disastrous start to win the Korea Open on Sunday, beating Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 7-5 in the final. The world number two dropped the opening set after an error-strewn performance drastically out of keeping with her dominating form this week in Seoul. World number 11 Alexandrova was two points away from winning the title but Swiatek came back to level the match after a tiebreak before finding her rhythm in the third set. The win gave the Polish six-time Grand Slam champion her third title of the season and her first ever in the South Korean capital. Swiatek’s father Tomasz competed in rowing at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and she said she was “happy that I could win here because of the family history”.
“My dad couldn’t win the Olympics but at least I won this tournament,” said the 24-year-old.
“Hopefully he’s going to come next year to enjoy everything.”
Top seed Swiatek breezed her way into the final, winning back-to-back games on Saturday in a combined time of two and a half hours.
Her touch completely deserted her in the opening set of the final, committing error after error to hand number two seed Alexandrova the upper hand.
Swiatek left the court to regroup before the second set but she continued to struggle when she came back and had to dig deep to level the match in a tie-break.
The Pole played better in the third set and closed out the championship with a big forehand before dropping her racquet and letting out a primal roar.
“Honestly, I don’t know how I won it because you were just playing great,” Swiatek told her opponent on the court after the match.
“I just tried to stay alive.”
Swiatek and Alexandrova had already met three times this season, with Swiatek coming out on top in their most recent match in the last 16 of the US Open.
Alexandrova won the Korea Open in 2022 and she was looking for her second title of the season.
“It’s always super difficult to play against her so I just tried to my best today,” said Alexandrova.
“It wasn’t enough so maybe next time I will be a little bit better.”
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