"Hopefully, this will be the last time" - Pam Shriver on Iga Swiatek's attempt to distract her opponent in San Diego Open final

Iga Swiatek won the inaugural edition of the San Diego Open on Sunday as she downed Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in one hour and 47 minutes. It was the World No. 1's eighth title of the season and a second WTA 500 tournament win.

The Pole has enjoyed an extraordinary ten months so far, with a few important events remaining in the year. She has won 64 out of the 72 matches that she has played, while also improving her head-to-head record against 47th-ranked Vekic to 3-0.

During the finals, there was an unusual moment when Swiatek was down a break point and she raised her arms in the air right after returning the ball at the net, forcing the viewers to think that she was trying to distract her opponent. Although Vekic won the point, broke the top seed and eventually took the second set, fans were not happy with Swiatek and called for warnings and penalties.

Former American player and 22-time Grand Slam doubles champion Pam Shriver took to social media to state that Vekic was not affected by Swiatek's gesture and won the point anyway. Shriver also hoped that the Pole wouldn't repeat such actions in the future since she didn't need to.

"Agree it was hindrance, IF the opponent was distracted by the unnecessary hindering move, but Donna did not see the move and was not bothered by it and won the point. Hopefully, this will be the last time Iga does this. She is WAY too good for this maneuver," Shriver tweeted.

21-year-old Swiatek apologized to her opponent a while after the title clash ended.

"This is the best prize/trophy ever! Thank you San Diego for an amazing (cloudy) week and this unique vibe. I love it here. And congrats @DonnaVekic for your amazing run! And sorry for waving my hands at the net," Swiatek wrote.

---

"The goal is not feeling perfectly, but winning when you're not comfortable" - Iga Swiatek

Iga Swiatek during the San Diego Open summit clash

During an interview with the WTA after winning the San Diego Open, Iga Swiatek answered a question about tennis players being perfectionists. The World No. 1 stated that she had stopped thinking about perfection and instead concentrated on winning when things were not going her way since tennis players had to make so many adjustments all the time.

"I kind of stopped thinking that way," Iga Swiatek said. "The goal is not playing or feeling perfectly, but winning when you're not feeling perfect, or winning when you're not comfortable on court and you can't play with your intuition. You have to always change something. That is the key in tennis because we have so many conditions throughout the whole season, different balls, different racquet tensions."

"Finding that perfect feeling is really hard. I feel like I had it maybe twice this season and that's still a lot. In the other tournaments, it's just working through the times when you're not feeling perfect," she added.