Swiatek needed just 59 minutes to win in Cancún, Mexico – and in style: 6–1, 6–0. The four-time grand slam champion had a lot of pressure on his serves throughout the match and also dominated the groundstrokes.
For Pegula, the evening was considerably more difficult – five times she had her serve broken and she also made several simple mistakes.
After the match, however, the Pole was humble and underlined the respect she has for her final opponent.
– Playing against you has never been easy, Swiatek said in his victory interview.
World number one again
For her part, Pegula – who until the final had not lost a set throughout the tournament – pointed out that the Pole is constantly forcing her to improve and try to find dimensions in her game.
– I wish I could have performed better today, but sometimes things don’t go as you wish, said Pegula, who with the shutout broke his nine-game winning streak.
For Swiatek, the win – her eleventh in a row – means that she ends the season as world number one for the second year in a row. She takes over the throne as she defeated the former world number one, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, in Sunday’s semi-final.
In addition to the place at the absolute top of the world rankings, the 22-year-old can also look forward to a 2023 with 68 wins and just 11 losses and six titles, including the French Open, her fourth career grand slam.