The Tracy Austin Group gets going Tuesday at the WTA Finals Fort Worth. World No.1 Iga Swiatek clashes with Daria Kasatkina for the fifth time this year, before Coco Gauff and Caroline Garcia take the court in a rematch of their US Open quarterfinal. Here's how the matchups break down.
[1] Iga Swiatek (POL) vs. [8] Daria Kasatkina
Head-to-head: Swiatek leads 4-1 (3-0 on hard courts, 4-0 in 2022)
WTA Finals history: Second appearance for Swiatek, who fell in the 2021 round-robin stage; first appearance for Kasatkina.
1. Swiatek has dominated Kasatkina in 2022. Kasatkina won their first meeting at Eastbourne 2021, taking advantage of Swiatek's discomfort on grass to run away with a 4-6, 6-0, 6-1 victory. But the Pole has turned the tables. Across four meetings at the Australian Open, Dubai, Doha and Roland Garros, Swiatek dropped only 14 games and no more than three games in any set.
Road to the WTA Finals: Iga Swiatek | Daria Kasatkina
2. The conditions could help Kasatkina. Two of Kasatkina's four WTA 500 titles have come on indoor hard courts, while Swiatek has yet to lift a trophy on the surface. Moreover, the lighter US Open balls, which Swiatek openly said she disliked this summer, will be used in Fort Worth. That said, Swiatek won the US Open anyway, and she reached the Ostrava final in her only indoor hard-court event since becoming World No.1.
Highlights: Kasatkina d. Swiatek, R2 Eastbourne 2021 | Swiatek d. Kasatkina, R1 Dubai 2022 | Swiatek d. Kasatkina, R3 Doha 2022
3. Kasatkina's first-serve percentage will be key. Swiatek's ability to attack Kasatkina's second serve has increased with every match this year. Kasatkina managed to win 55% of the points behind it at the Australian Open, a number that fell to 47% in Dubai, 36% in Doha and just 21% at Roland Garros.
[4] Coco Gauff (USA) vs. [6] Caroline Garcia (FRA)
Head-to-head: Gauff leads 2-1, all on hard courts (1-1 in 2022)
WTA Finals history: First appearance for Gauff; second appearance for Garcia, who reached the 2017 semifinals.
1. Garcia's summer purple patch showed a blueprint for the win. Between June and September, Garcia won 31 out of 36 matches, including three titles on three different surfaces. Her first defeat of Gauff was the culmination of a 13-match winning streak that put the Frenchwoman into her first Grand Slam semifinal, at the US Open. Undoubtedly, Garcia was in the form of her career. Consequently, she overwhelmed Gauff with aggressive returning, lethal serving and superiority in forehand-to-forehand exchanges.
Road to the WTA Finals: Coco Gauff | Caroline Garcia
2. Gauff's previous wins demonstrated a more reliable base level. Despite the one-way nature of their US Open match, Gauff's two prior victories -- at Indian Wells 2021 and Doha 2022 -- could be more indicative of how their average levels match up. With Garcia's first strike not so watertight, the American's speed and consistency won the day.
Garcia has showed a phenomenal peak before, not least in the 2017 surge that took her into her prior WTA Finals appearance. She has yet to sustain that level beyond a few months at a time. Her 13-match winning streak has been followed by losses in four of her five matches since.
Gauff is now one of the most reliable players on tour. The 18-year-old has won at least two matches in eight of her past nine tournaments (a first-round retirement in Cincinnati was the only exception).
Highlights: Gauff d. Garcia, R2 Indian Wells 2021 | Gauff d. Garcia, R2 Doha 2022
3. Garcia's coaching situation may be a factor. Over the summer, Garcia ascribed her on-court clarity to the impact of her new coach, Bertrand Perret. She'll have to locate it without him in Fort Worth. Three days before the start of the WTA Finals, Perret announced the pair had split, telling L'Équipe: "There was no point in prolonging it artificially. There have been problems. They ended up spoiling the atmosphere and I preferred to stop."
Instead, Garcia will be coached this week by Juan Pablo Guzman, with whom she also worked in 2021.
Head to Head
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In doubles, the Pam Shriver Group will get under way. No.4 seeds Veronika Kudermetova and Elise Mertens face No.5 seeds Lyudmyla Kichenok and Jelena Ostapenko, before No.2 seeds Gabriela Dabrowski and Giuliana Olmos take on No.7 seeds Anna Danilina and Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Kudermetova and Mertens are 1-1 against Kichenok and Ostapenko in 2022, winning the Dubai final 6-1, 6-3 before the Ukrainian-Latvian duo took a 4-6, 7-6(5), [10-5] revenge in the Cincinnati semifinals. Danilina and Haddad Maia won their only encounter with Dabrowski and Olmos 6-4, 6-2 in the Sydney first round.
