From 6-4, 3-0 down, Iga Swiatek escapes Barbora Krejcikova for first round-robin win in Riyadh

Playing her first match in two months, and with Wim Fissette as her new coach, defending WTA Finals champion Iga Swiatek came all the way back to defeat Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 in Sunday's opening Orange Group match in Riyadh.

Swiatek told reporters on the eve of the tournament Friday that she "didn't feel like [she] missed a lot," in her break, pointing to high-level practices with Aryna Sabalenka and Zheng Qinwen since arriving in Saudi Arabia. But her performance in the match's first hour indicated otherwise. An erratic No. 2 seed racked up 19 unforced errors in the first set, and was broken three times overall, as Krejcikova raced out to a 6-4, 3-0 lead with a double-break advantage in the second set.

But from there, Swiatek stopped Krejcikova in her tracks, capturing 13 of the last 17 games as the Czech, who outside of her second major win at the All England Club in July struggled with injuries and illness in 2024, lost her grip on her game and also faded physically.

Krejcikova had beaten Swiatek in their last two meetings—both in finals—though they hadn't played in more than a year.

Bothered by a back problem after her All-England Club triumph in July, Krejcikova posted just a 5-5 record after Wimbledon through the Asian swing, retiring in her last outing against Mirra Andreeva in Ningbo just over two weeks ago.The Czech, ranked No. 12 in the year-long race to Riyadh, nonetheless qualified for her second year-end appearance in singles as the No. 8 seed thanks to a new provision in the WTA rules this year that a season's Grand Slam winner will earn a place in the field if outside the Top 8 as long as she finishes in the Top 20 of the race standings.

Krejcikova told media Friday on the eve of the event that she was "happy" to qualify for her second year-end appearance in singles through the loophole, which was a rule that existed on the men's tour for years previously.

"I don't think it's something that I should be deciding," the Czech said. "It's the decision of the players council and of the tournament council and of the WTA."

Despite struggling with her movement late in the third set, Krejcikova put up late resistance, holding serve down 5-0 and breaking Swiatek once more before eventually succumbing.

The win brings Swiatek's unbeaten streak at the WTA Finals to six straight matches, as she ran the table with an undefeated record to take last year's title. The Orange Group also includes Americans Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, the latter of whom lost to Swiatek in last year's final.