Difficult ladder by Iga Christmas. A Polish woman defends her title in Adelaide

On January 3, Iga Świątek will start her march to win the WTA 500 tournament in Adelaide.

Iga Świątek will try to defend the title in Adelaide

In the first round, Polka will face the qualifier, who shouldn’t be too much of a problem for her. The stairs will start from the second round. Here, someone from the pair of Ekaterina Aleksandrów (172nd in the WTA ranking) – Leylah Fernandez (24th) will be waiting for Świątek. The Russian woman is not Iga Świątek’s favorite player, and Fernandez is a finalist of the last US Open.

It can get even harder from here. In the quarter-finals, Iga can hit Paula Badosa (8th). The Spaniard, however, will first have to defeat Wiktoria Azarenka (27th), with whom she already won in the final of the tournament in Indian Wells. Świątek does not have the best memories of Badosa, who won with her at the Olympics in two sets.

Moving to the semi-finals can mean a great duel with a rival from the world’s top. I am talking about the tournament number one – Ashleigh Barty (1.). After winning this duel in the final, the Polish woman may be awaited by Aryna Sabalenka (2nd), Maria Sakkari (6th), who is one of the nightmares of Świątek, Jelena Rybakina (14th) or Jelina Switolina (15th). Much will depend on how Iga deals with the nerves on the court.

In December, the best Polish tennis player left her coach. Iga Świątek and Piotr Sierzputowski worked together for five years. They started when the tennis player was a junior. Under his leadership, she won, among others junior Wimbledon. Then came a career at the WTA main cycle level. Not only a triumph in Roland Garros 2020, but also victories in Rome and Adelaide in 2021 and promotion to the top 10 of the WTA ranking. Today, the Polish woman is ninth in the world, and recently she appeared for the first time in the Championships of Champions.