Chasing Serena Williams and Steffi Graf: Can Iga Swiatek break the American and German's WTA bagel records?

After winning the inaugural edition of the San Diego Open earlier this month, Iga Swiatek remarked that she will remember the 2022 season for the rest of her life.

She has every reason to do so since it has been one of the best seasons in the history of the sport. With a scarcely believable win-loss record of 64-8, the World No. 1 has amassed as many as eight singles titles on the tour so far this year. Her eight trophies include four WTA 1000 events, two WTA 500 tournaments, and two Grand Slam titles — the French Open and the US Open.

Though just 21 years of age, the three-time Major champion also broke Venus Williams' record for most consecutive wins since the turn of the century. The American held the record for winning 35 matches on the trot in 2000. Right behind her is her sister Serena Williams, who won 34 matches in 2013. However, Swiatek went a step ahead this year, and over a period of 135 days, clinched 37 match wins in a row to set a new record.

With her recent win in San Diego, the Pole also became the first woman to stack up over 10,000 ranking points since Serena scored 13,260 points in 2013, winning 11 singles titles, including the French Open, US Open and WTA Finals.

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While Steffi Graf's bagels record looks far-fetched, Iga Swiatek could break Serena Williams' tally

Iga Swiatek poses after winning the San Diego Open.

During her successful campaign in San Diego, Iga Swiatek produced two bagels. The first one came against fourth-ranked Coco Gauff in the quarterfinals while the second was against 71st-ranked Donna Vekic in the title clash.

During a qualifier match at the Billie Jean King Cup earlier this year, the Pole handed over a double-bagel defeat to Romania's Andreea Prisacariu. Winning a match 6-0, 6-0 has happened quite a few times in the history of tennis, the most memorable being Steffi Graf's 1988 French Open final win over Natalia Zvereva. The match lasted only 34 minutes.

In the 72 matches that she has played so far this season, the top-ranked Swiatek has dished out a staggering 21 bagel (6-0) sets to her opponents. The record for the most 6-0 sets this century belongs to Serena Williams, who dominated 25 sets in her dream year of 2013.

Given the current situation and circumstances, the WTA Finals will be this year's last tournament for the 21-year-old Iga Swiatek. This means that the maximum number of matches that she can play is five. In 1988 and 1989, German legend Graf finished with 29 and 35 bagel sets respectively, a record among women. While it is unlikely for the Pole to even think of getting close to Graf's score of 29 in 1988, matching or passing Williams' tally of 25 could be on Swiatek's mind.

However, she will be aware of the high quality of tennis that will challenge her with players like Ons Jabeur, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia, Aryna Sabalenka, and Daria Kasatkina.

In the nine finals that she reached in 2022, Iga Swiatek won three bagel sets, along with winning seven 6-0 sets in Grand Slam events.