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Sloane Stephens was full of praise for Iga Swiatek during a recent interview in Dubai. She is set to face Swiatek in the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024.
Swiatek reached the second round in Dubai on the back of a bye as the top seed. On the other hand, Stephens defeated France's Clara Burel 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in a little over two hours in her opener.
After the win, Stephens answered a few questions from Arab News. Among several things, she talked highly of World No. 1 Swiatek, who entered the Dubai draw just days after claiming her third Qatar Open title.
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"She [Iga Swiatek] just won the tournament the other day. obviously she's playing really well, as always. She's our most dominant, probably, No. 1 in the last few years. I think it will be a good match," Stephens said.
The Pole is currently in her 91st week as the World No. 1. Notably, she remained the top-ranked woman in the singles for 75 consecutive weeks between April 4, 2022, and September 10, 2023.
Aryna Sabalenka sat atop for eight weeks from September 11, 2023, before Iga Swiatek reclaimed the spot on November 6, 2023.
Stephens, however, is hopeful of producing a good show in the second round as she has acclimatized and is pumped up following the win over Clara Burel.
"I'm over my jet lag now, so hopefully I can come out and play some good tennis and just do my best. Obviously, getting a win [in the first round] was super helpful... It was super windy, so I hope it’s not windy when I play here. I'm just going to go out and do my best and see what happens," she further told Arab News.
Iga Swiatek leads Sloane Stephens 2-0 in terms of head-to-head
Iga Swiatek holds the upper hand over Sloane Stephens heading into the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships 2024 as she leads their head-to-head tally 2-0.
She first played against and defeated the 2017 US Open champion at the Cincinnati Open in 2022. She dominated Stephens by winning 72 percent of her first-serve points and closed the match at 6-4, 7-5.
The duo met again a few weeks later, this time in the second round of the US Open. Swiatek registered a more convincing win over the American with four breaks of serve and a 77 percent first-seve win. Furthermore, she went on to win the tournament.
