In the 59-minute match against Swiatek in Cancun on Monday, Pegula lost all but one of her games. The Pole defeated Pegula 6-1, 6-0 to win the WTA Finals trophy and to go ahead of Aryna Sabalenka in the year-end rankings.
Marketa Vondrousva, Coco Gauff, and Ons Jabeur also passed through “Iga’s bakery factory” before the American player was given a bagel (6-0 scoreline) or a breadstick (6-1 scoreline) by the four-time Grand Slam winner in Mexico.
In fact, Swiatek became the first player to record 20 or more bagels in back-to-back seasons since Steffi Graf and Monica Seles in 1991–1992, winning 22 sets 6-0 in 2023 to go along with the 22 she had handed out previous year.
Pegula, who had a fantastic WTA Finals despite struggling in the championship match, was able to look over her loss as she finished her drink.
The number five in the world posted a joke on Instagram, saying, “Ended the year through the Iga bakery factory lol.”
“Jokes aside,” she continued. In the books, 2023 🙌
Additionally, Pegula’s 2023 campaign was “one for the books” as she finished with two victories, including a second WTA 1000 trophy at the Canadian Open, and advanced to the Australian Open and Wimbledon quarterfinals.
Following the match, Pegula gave Swiatek a lot of credit for persevering despite being written off after her poor performance at the US Open.
She remarked, “I’ve thought for the past few years that she is the one to beat.” She is demonstrating that, despite setbacks or tournament disappointments, she is capable of picking herself up and continuing to play at a high level each and every week.
“She demonstrated what, in my opinion, a champion and top player does.”
While this was going on, Swiatek achieved a number of other incredible firsts, including becoming the first player under 23 to win 65 or more games in consecutive seasons since Martina Hingis did it from 1997 to 2000.
The Pole is one of the few players to win a championship at every WTA level in a single season since the new format was adopted, along with Petra Kvitova (2011) and Serena Williams (2013). One Grand Slam (the French Open), two WTA 500 championships (Doha and Stuttgart), one WTA 1000 trophy (Beijing), one WTA 250 event (Warsaw), and the WTA Finals in Cancun were all won by Swiatake.
