Eighth seed Krejcikova’s victory was dangerous information for Swiatek, who has been eradicated on the group stage of the WTA Finals for the primary time since 2021.
Swiatek has been the dominant participant on the Tour for almost all of the previous two years and began this season strongly by profitable the Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome and French Open titles.
Nevertheless, her lofty ranges have dipped within the second half of the season and allowed Sabalenka to overhaul her on the prime of the rankings.
In her seek for solutions, Swiatek determined to vary coaches and changed Tomasz Wiktorowski with Wim Fissette within the lead-up to the WTA Finals.
Bettering the four-time French Open champion’s service sport, and adapting her abilities in a bid for extra success on the faster surfaces, are the priorities.
On a quick court docket on the King Saud College Indoor Area, Swiatek struggled towards Gauff on Tuesday – a straight-set defeat which finally proved pricey.
However there have been optimistic indicators towards Kasatkina. Swiatek performed with extra tempo and depth to comb previous the Russian, who regarded undercooked after her late call-up.
“I used to be hitting the ball very well and choosing the right photographs to play sooner,” mentioned Swiatek.
