World No.1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek has advanced to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and extended her winning run to 27 matches, thus equaling Serena Williams’ hot streak from 2015.
In Saturday’s Rome semifinals, Swiatek broke eighth-ranked Aryna Sabalenka six times to record a comfortable 6-2 6-1 victory. In her four victories this week in Rome, two of which were over Grand Slam champions Victoria Azarenka and Bianca Andreescu, Swiatek dropped a total of just 17 games and achieved the longest streak on the WTA Tour since Serena Williams went 27 unbeaten between the 2014 WTA Finals and the 2015 Madrid Open.
The 20-year-old Swiatek is now one victory away from lifting her fifth consecutive champion’s trophy, following Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Stuttgart. The last player to win five titles in a row was Serena Williams in 2013, when she won Miami, Charleston, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.
At the 2022 Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the final obstacle of the top-seeded Pole will be the winner of the semifinal between Ons Jabeur and Daria Kasatkina. Tunisia’s Jabeur won the Madrid Open last week and became the first Arab or African player to win a WTA 1000 tournament. After advancing to the quarterfinals in Rome, Jabeur was asked whether she felt she was on autopilot having won a lot of matches back to back, and the world No.7 had a witty answer: “I’m the copilot of Iga right now (laughter).”
