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World No. 1 Iga Swiatek, who is on a roll after a perfect record in singles at the United Cup in Perth, has achieved yet another milestone. With her victory over Qinwen Zheng of China in the tournament on Wednesday, January 3, Swiatek has notched up 100 wins as the top-ranked player.
With the win, the Pole guided her country to the semi-finals of the United Cup. The 22-year-old's win-loss record as World No. 1 after beating Zheng is a staggering 86.21%. She has lost only 16 out of the 116 matches she has played as the top-ranked player.
Iga Swiatek overtook Justine Henin in the number of matches played as No. 1. She is now in seventh place, according to data available since 1984.
The Pole, who took over the No. 1 spot in April 2022 for the first time, played 100 WTA matches as the top ranked player in July last year. This itself put her in an elite group of eight WTA legends to achieve the feat; Serena Williams, Steffi Graf, Monica Seles, Martina Navratilova, Martina Hingis, Chris Evert and Justine Henin.
At the time, Swiatek had won 87 while losing 13 matches, the same as Williams during her first 100 matches as the No. 1 player. The four-time Grand Slam champion is now into her 84th week as the top-ranked player. She is now tenth on the all-time list of players who have spent the most number of weeks at No.1, ranking just behind Lindsay Davenport (98 weeks).
Steffi Graf tops the list, having spent 377 weeks in total on the summit. She is followed by Martina Navratilova (332 weeks), Serena Williams (319 weeks), Chris Evert (260 weeks), Martina Hingis (209 weeks), Monica Seles (178 weeks), Ashleigh Barty (121 weeks), Justine Henin-Hardene (119 weeks) and Lindsay Davenport.
Iga Swiatek's performance at United Cup 2024
Iga Swiatek has won all her matches at this year's edition of the United Cup in Australia, leading Poland into the semi-finals.
Swiatek started her campaign under pressure, needing to win her singles match against Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo to keep the tie alive. Her compatriot Hubert Hurkacz had lost the singles match against Spain's Davidovich Fokina.
The Pole beat Tormo 6-2, 6-1 to force a deciding mixed doubles match. Swiatek and Hurkacz then won the doubles encounter in just over half an hour by double bagelling the Spanish team, making Poland the first country to sail into the quarter-finals.
After the win by Hurkacz in the opening men’s singles match against China's Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 6-4, Swiatek took 1 hour and 34 minutes to beat Zheng to clinch the quarter-final tie. Poland, who lost to eventual champion US in last year’s final four, will now travel from Perth to Sydney to compete in this weekend’s semi-finals.
