Defending WTA Finals champion Iga Swiatek begins her bid to reclaim the No. 1 ranking when she takes on Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova on Sunday.
The Polish superstar, who has made changes to her team, has not played competitively since exiting at the US Open, giving observers doubts as to her current level before facing Krejcikova.
Match preview
© Imago
Swiatek entered last year's WTA Finals needing success in Cancun to claim the No. 1 ranking, and she duly went 5-0 without dropping a set en route to finishing as the year-end top-ranked player.
Victory in Riyadh could guarantee the same outcome for the five-time Grand Slam champion, although that might still not suffice if Aryna Sabalenka ends 3-0 in her round-robin matches.
Last year's champion skipped the entire Asian swing, where Sabalenka, Coco Gauff and Qinwen Zheng, all participants in the Finals, claimed titles and are sharp heading into the event in Saudi Arabia.
Having made changes to her team, with Wim Fissette replacing Tomasz Wiktorowski last month, there is a sense of the unknown heading into the Finals for the 23-year-old player.
Swiatek is bidding to join Chris Evert (1972-73), Martina Navratilova (1978-79), Monica Seles (1990-91), Steffi Graf (1995-96), Kim Clijsters (2002-03), Justin Henin (2006-07) and Serena Williams (2012-13) in retaining her crown at the year-end event, but it remains to be seen how she competes in Riyadh.
© Imago
Facing the returning Pole is Krejcikova, who plays in the event due to her Wimbledon success at Jasmine Paolini's expense, making her the eighth qualifier.
Despite her previous success against Swiatek, the Czechia player's indifferent results in the lead-up to the Finals highlight her ongoing struggles for fluency on the singles circuit.
Krejcikova exited early in Beijing, Wuhan and Ningbo during the Asian swing, and she hopes to find her best form against a player she has fared well against, as evidenced by her previous victories.
The eight-time WTA Tour singles champion competes in the Finals for the second time, but she hopes for a better outcome than 2021's 0-3 record.
Head To Head
Dubai (2023) - Final: Krejcikova 6-4 6-2
Ostrava (2022) - Final: Krejcikova 5-7 7-6(4) 6-3
Rome (2021) - Round of 16: Swiatek 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5
Miami (2021) - Round of 64: Swiatek 6-4 6-2
Swiatek and Krejcikova have split previous match-ups 2-2 heading into their fifth encounter on the women's tour.
The Polish player won their first two meetings before Krejcikova notched consecutive triumphs, and the 28-year-old bids for a third victory in Sunday's tussle, keen to record her 14th top-10 victory and third this year.
We say: Swiatek to win in three sets
Swiatek's lack of recent matches raises questions about her current form, making Sunday's encounter difficult to predict, and Krejcikova's past success against the Polish star further adds to the uncertainty.
Regardless, we back the 2023 champion to begin her title defence with a victory, even if her lack of competitive action could mean the Group B match goes to a decider.
