Iga Swiatek vs Darya Kasatkina Prediction: Swiatek is a clear favorite

The Women’s Tennis Association(WTA) has been a difficult one to predict considering the constant shuffling that happens in the rankings. For instance, Garbine Mugurza, who won the WTA Finals against Anett Kontaveit is not going to be part of the tournament after a dramatic fall in the rankings and even Kontaveit isn’t part of the tournament. So is the case with Karolina Pliskova,and Barbora Krejcikova. But there is one player who has taken the WTA by storm and continues to dominate and her name is Iga Swiatek, by far the most successful WTA player right now. She begins her WTA campaign going up against Darya Kasatkina in the Group Stage.

Iga Swiatek doesn’t need another trophy to prove her mettle and the designation as the number one WTA player. She has already won Three Grand Slams this year and her form has been impenetrable. Her simplistic style of just keeps attacking has brought immense success and an improved defensive game means that she can set the scene on fire just like legends Serena Williams, Martina Navratilova, and Stefi Graff etc. She has been beating top-ranked players like they are low-tier players.

Swiatek’s success wasn’t just limited to the Grand Slams. During her last tournament, the San Diego Open, she defeated Donna Vekic in three sets after having beaten heavyweights Jessica Pegula and Coco Gauff in the prior rounds. She had also reached the Final of the Ostrava Open, losing to Barbora Krejcikova in three sets. Before that, she had raided the WTA scene after winning her third Slam of the year after nabbing the US Open title, winning against Jabeur in two sets.

Darya Kasatkina has had the best year of her career and has become one of the best players in the world. While she has proven her mettle in the previous years, her Semi-Finals run during the French Open meant that she is going to improve even further. It isn’t like Darya’s run is close to the run of stalwarts such as Iga Swiatek, Jessica Pegula, or Ons Jabeur, but she has still proven to be a strong opponent.

But a lot of work is to be done because the second half of the year hasn’t been as kind to Kasatkina. During Guadalajara Open, San Diego Open, and Ostrava Open, she lost in the second round and it has been a long time since she has made a deep run in tournaments where the draw contains top players. Her rhythm was lost when she was ousted by Harriet Dart in the first round of the US Open. Can Darya play with more control and recover her ways that led her to the WTA Finals? She barely eked out a place in the WTA Finals.

Swiatek and Darya have met five times and Iga has defeated her during four instances, thus dominating the h2h. She last met Daria during French Open Semis where she won comfortably in two sets.

It is clear from both the h2h and recent form that Iga is going to come into this game with a huge edge. Swiatek has been hammering her opposition, winning in two sets. The mantra is simple, keep hitting the ball hard and when you are in the return situation, just keep chasing the ball. Swiatek has made it to the top without employing much variety but by forcing the opponents to play more aggressively, a ploy that doesn’t work against someone like Swiatek. That is why I believe Swiatek will win in two sets comfortably.