World No.1 Iga Swiatek eased past Aryna Sabalenka in the Stuttgart Open final to win her 23rd straight match.
In the apex clash of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, the Pole rolled over the Belarusian 6-2, 6-2 for her fourth consecutive title.
Swiatek, making her Stuttgart Open debut, triumphed over the 3rd seed with a commanding 84-minute victory collecting her seventh career WTA Tour singles title in the process.
Perhaps feeling the effects of her three-hour semifinal battle against Liudmila Samsonova, Swiatek had to save a breakpoint in the opening game.
But she soon found her footing as she methodically moved through the set from there, surviving a patch of brilliant Sabalenka backhands and picking off big points in a handful of tight games.
A double fault by Sabalenka on set point ceded the opener to Swiatek.
The 2021 Stuttgart runner-up Sabalenka faced more adversity in the second set but toughed out a service hold from breakpoint down at 1-1 in the second set, deploying multiple forehand winners down the line.
But Swiatek once again found perfect placement on her shots down the stretch, grabbing the last four games to finish off the final and add another trophy to his collection.
Swiatek’s 17 winners outpaced Sabalenka’s 13, and the top seed won 77 percent of her first-service points and 100% of second serve points.
After dropping her first meeting with Sabalenka at last year’s WTA Finals, Swiatek has won their following two clashes in straight sets.
World no.1 has been on absolute fire this year. Her current 23-match winning streak began with a title run at WTA 1000 Doha before she swept the Sunshine Double of Indian Wells and Miami.
Two additional wins for her Polish squad at Billie Jean King Cup qualifying gave Swiatek a 19-match winning streak coming into this WTA 500 claycourt tournament.
Aside from losing her first final to Polona Hercog as a 17-year-old in 2019, Swiatek has been dominant in the finals. She has won seven finals in a row since then without dropping a set and has lost no more than five games total in each of those championship matches.
Swiatek is now the first player to win 30 matches this season and improved her 2022 record to 30-3.
