World number two Iga Swiatek ended her Masters drought with a straightforward victory over Russia's Liudmila Samsonova in the final of the China Open on Sunday.
The Pole - making her debut at the Beijing 1000 event - had not taken home a Masters crown since the 2022 Italian Open, losing in this year's Dubai and Madrid showpiece matches.
However, on the back of her emphatic semi-final success over US Open winner Coco Gauff, Swiatek took just 69 minutes to defeat Samsonova 6-2 6-2 and clinch her sixth WTA 1000 title.
In doing so, Swiatek wrote a chapter of history as the player with the most WTA 1000 wins before turning 23, overtaking Caroline Wozniacki's five Masters triumphs from 2009.
In addition, the world number two has now won at least five WTA titles at any level in both 2022 and 2023, becoming the first player since Serena Williams in 2014 and 2015 to do so in consecutive seasons.
"I'm happy that I won because, for sure, this is really big for me," the 22-year-old said on the court after coming up trumps on her China Open debut.
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"Winning this title is something that I never would have thought at the beginning of the tournament about. I'm pretty proud of myself.
"You could feel that we are playing a final because it was a little bit tense, I would say. But I'm happy that I kind of adjusted to what Liudmila was playing. I wanted to really be consistent with what I wanted to do no matter how she's doing."
Samsonova initially managed to quell the threat of Swiatek in the early stages, but a double fault in the sixth game gifted the Pole the first break of the match, and she needed just one chance to wrap up the set on the Russian's serve, as Samsonova went for a down-the-line forehand but could only find the net.
While not managing a single ace in the first set, the reliable Swiatek did not suffer a single double fault either, and an identical story arose in the second set, where the 22-year-old ruthlessly capitalised on the few openings that Samsonova ceded.
A disastrous third game for the world number 22 saw Swiatek break to love as Samsonova went wide on a forehand, and once again, the Russian failed to hold her nerve while serving to stay in the match.
Winning just 42% of points behind her first serve, Samsonova was powerless to return a lovely passing forehand from Swiatek for the Pole's first match point, and the Russian undercooked a drop shot to hand Swiatek her first China Open title.
While Swiatek was immediately overcome by emotion, Samsonova was left to rue what could have been as she suffered a second defeat from as many Masters finals, having also lost the Canadian Open showpiece to Jessica Pegula earlier this year.
Ben Knapton
