The Tracy Austin group takes center stage at the WTA Finals in Texas on Tuesday as heavy seed Iga Swiatek begins her campaign to win the season-ending tournament for the first time.
World No.1 Swiatek has erased everything in front of her this season as she won eight titles, including the French Open and US Open. She’s also fresh, taking a week off after his title run at the San Diego Open two weeks ago.
This is only her second appearance at the WTA Finals after making her debut last year and she admits the conditions will be different than in San Diego.
“I feel like the conditions were completely different and right now I basically have to get used to the ball again because we’re playing US Open Regular Duty. I just have to put more energy and control the ball”, said the Pole.
“In San Diego, I felt so comfortable with the Dunlop ball that we played with that I didn’t really have to think about it.
“But the preparation went well. I mean we did everything we planned to do. I was able to recover. I felt really sore after those two tournaments. Now I feel fresher and that’s all that matters because I can give everything in the games”.
Swiatek meets Daria Kasatkina, who is set to make her debut, in the opening game and leads the Russian 4-1 in the head-to-head series, with all four wins this year.
“I was happy at the time because I achieved something new, but now I want more things. I want higher. I’m not very happy with… I mean, obviously I’m happy, but I want to take the next step,” Kasatkina said of qualifying her.
Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia will also be in action on Tuesday.
American teenager Gauff, also making her WTA Finals debut, is 2-1 against Garcia in their H2H but lost her last match to the Frenchwoman.
“I lost to them at the US Open. But yes, no game will be easy here. I really have no words. I think the way the atmosphere is, I hope it’s going to be a good atmosphere and a good turnout,” Gauff said.
“I think I’m going to have a lot of fun no matter how it goes. Of course I want to win, but I’m just going to focus on enjoying this. It is the first time I play this tournament. I hope to be here for many more WTA Finals in the future, but I will only enjoy the first one.”
WTA Finals Schedule
individual
Iga Swiatek vs. Daria Kasatkina – 22:00 GMT
Coco Gauff vs. Caroline Garcia – 00:00 GMT (Wednesday morning)
double
Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens vs. Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jeļena Ostapenko 20:00 GMT
Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos vs. Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia – 01:30 GMT (Wednesday morning)
How to watch the WTA Finals
Amazon Prime has the exclusive rights to the WTA Tour events in the UK and Ireland and will stream the WTA Finals at the end of the season. New customers can sign up for £8.99 a month and are entitled to a 30-day free trial.
Tennis Channel covers the United States, Germany, Switzerland and the Netherlands, a combination of TVA Sports, DAZN and TSN airs WTA events in Canada, while ESPN airs tournaments in Central and South America.
DAZN, TVE, TV3 is the provider in Spain, beIN is the broadcaster in Australia and France, Canal+ in Poland and SuperSport in Sub-Saharan Africa.
READ MORE: Watch: Ons Jabeur scares Iga Swiatek and Caroline Garcia
Source: www.tennis365.com
