This is Swiatek’s second finals defeat in the last three years of which she has played in 12 finals matches. It was a hard-won match for Krejcikova as the World No.1 gave it her all. She had to trail Swiatek in the opening set 5-1. The match lasted 3 hours and 16 minutes.
The opening set itself lasted 80 minutes. Neither player had a breakpoint in the first seven games of the final set.
“It was a big match, I think, for both sides,” Krejcikova said post-match.
“We played amazingly. We gave an amazing show to the fans, so I’m really happy with that and with the way I have performed. It’s always great to be a winner in your home country.
“It’s a huge victory … It’s one of the biggest matches that I ever played. The atmosphere was just very energetic and very unbelievable for both sides. It’s really one of the top matches that I think I ever played in my life.”
“I was just telling myself to keep going,” she said. “She’s a great champion. She’s a great player, so I was expecting that she’s not going to give it to me easy. So I was just like, ‘OK, keep going. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to you’re going to get your chance. You’re going to make it,’ so that was my inner voice.”It was the longest championship match of 2022 so far. It is also the second time that Krejcikova’s had to play a match that lasted more than three hours. She has now also won nine straight matches. Including the title in Tallinn last week.
“I had a really tough two weeks, but two very nice trophies at the end,” Krejcikova said.
“My game is improving and I’m really happy with that. I’m working very hard every day to get better every single time. I’m just very happy that things are clicking together and improving and I can play the biggest matches with the biggest players.”