Iga Swiatek clearly wasn’t at her best as she faced Donna Vekic at the China Open. She was on the verge of getting knocked out of the competition at one stage, but made a stunning comeback to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-2. The Pole was self-critical after the match and admitted that she made several mistakes, which increased her frustration.

“I was just really pissed. I thought I’m not playing bad, but for sure it wasn’t enough,” she said in her post-match interview. “Did some mistakes, and I was just angry. I wanted to change something because clearly it wasn’t working. So, yeah, the beginning of the second set sure was tough. But later on, I figured it out, so I’m really happy about that.”

After losing the first set, Swiatek was down 2-5 in the second. Vekic served for the match on two occasions, but fumbled both times as Swiatek forced a tiebreaker. The World No. 9 comfortably clinched the breaker 7-0 to level the match. Vekic completely lost her rhythm and was barely able to keep up with Swiatek in the decider. This result saw the Pole extend her perfect record against Vekic to 5-0.

Though she may have dominated in the later stages of the match, it is clear that Swiatek will need to elevate her game to stand a chance of winning the China Open. Luckily for her, the draw has been blown wide open with the early eliminations of Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka. In addition to Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Mirra Andreeva, Linda Noskova, Elina Svitolina, and Karolina Muchova are the top 10 players still competing in the tournament.

While her performance against Vekic may not have been convincing, a seasoned player like Swiatek can never be put out of contention. She did significantly improve her form in the North American swing, clinching her maiden title of the season at the Canadian Open and reaching the semifinals at the Cincinnati Masters.

Having been knocked out in the Round of 16 last year at the China Open, Swiatek doesn’t have a lot of points to defend in the tournament. She has reached the same stage this season and will be taking on Iva Jovic in the next match.

The two have never faced each other in a tour-level match before, so no one really knows what to expect. Like Swiatek, Jovic has also dropped one set in the tournament so far. The match can turn out to be a close affair, and fans definitely wouldn’t want to miss this one.

The stakes are higher for Swiatek as the race for the WTA Finals is heating up. If it stays the way it currently is, then she will miss out on the year-end tournament. The 25-year-old recently admitted that her current goal is to reach the top eight and qualify for the WTA Finals.

Iga Swiatek opened up on her chances of reaching the WTA Finals

Before the start of the China Open, Swiatek sat in tenth place with 3,584 points. She was 650 points behind Linda Noskova, who is currently eighth and also playing in Beijing. Swiatek was asked about her chances of reaching the year-end tournament after she defeated Gao Xinyu 6-2, 6-3 in the first match.

“Of course it’s the goal. I’m going to fight for it,” she said in the post-match press conference. “Obviously, I’m aware of that. But that doesn’t change the fact that it still seems pretty far away, because there are a lot of tournaments left where you can earn a lot of points.”

The China Open and the Wuhan Open are incredibly important tournaments for Swiatek. Deep runs in either of these events could see her reach the top eight and qualify for the WTA Finals, which will be held in November. But Swiatek isn’t thinking too much about the tournaments ahead and is taking things step by step.

“I’m just trying to take things step by step, because if I focus only on the next match, that’s when I play my best,” she further said.

The last time Swiatek didn’t qualify for the WTA Finals was in 2021. She even won the coveted title in 2023 and finished the year as the World No. 1. Though the situation may be way different now, she still has a good chance of making it to the year-end event.