DUBAI: There's a new-found solidity at the top of women's game, not seen since Serena Williams dominated the Tour for well over a decade until her maternity break in 2017. At the Dubai Duty Free Tennis championships, a WTA 1000 Series event, top-seeded Iga Swiatek, blistering off the ground, further endorsed it this week.
Swiatek, 21, who rolled into the title round with a convincing 6-4, 6-2 win over American teenager Coco Gauff on Friday, is up and away in the front of the pack on the ranking points scale. An indent of almost 5000 points ahead of the second-ranked Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka. The 2-6 positions – Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Ons Jabeur, Caroline Garcia and the teenager Gauff – in that order, are separated by a total of about 2000 points. Then there is a third tier of players capable of weighing in with an upset result every now then like Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the surprise winner at the French Open two years ago.
