Iga Swiatek fires warning to Aryna Sabalenka and co after statement WTA Finals win

Iga Swiatek warned her rivals that she was happy with "everything" in her game after getting off to a strong start at the WTA Finals. The world No. 2 needed just 61 minutes to breeze past Australian Open champion Madison Keys in her first round-robin match of the week.

Swiatek dropped just seven points on her serve as she sealed a 6-1 6-2 victory, and she is now leading in the 'Serena Williams Group', which also contains Amanda Anisimova and Elena Rybakina. The 'Steffi Graf Group' features Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Jasmine Paolini, and the two group winners advance to the semi-finals.

The Polish star has not played a match since losing in the Wuhan quarter-finals three weeks ago and has since been hard at work on the practice courts - and it's paying off.

Swiatek needed just 15 minutes to race into a 5-0 lead over Keys in her opening match at the season-ending championships. She finished the match having won 82 per cent of points on her first serve while Keys - who had not played a match since the US Open - fired down five double faults.

Asked what she was happy with in her game, the Wimbledon champion replied: "Honestly about everything, kind of!

"I don't know, all the things that I practised, I got it together today to play with the right balance in terms of being solid and aggressive. So I'm overall happy with the work that I put in after the China swing, especially in Warsaw.

"So that gives me, for sure, confidence to go forward and develop as a player. I'm happy that I could bring my game today and I'll be ready to do that the next days."

It's been a long season for Swiatek, who, on multiple occasions, has called out the demanding tennis calendar and the number of mandatory tournaments on the WTA Tour. But the 24-year-old is just trying to enjoy herself at the last event of 2025.

She added: "For sure, everybody who is here should be proud of the season that we had. I'm trying to enjoy it and trying to appreciate that.

"It feels great to be back in Riyadh, especially because we've been switching places for the WTA Finals for the last years, so coming back here to the place I know, it feels a little bit more like home, so just happy to be here."

Swiatek won the WTA Finals in 2023, when the season-ending competition was staged in Cancun. The tournament moved to Riyadh on a three-year deal in 2024. Last year, Swiatek was unable to advance past the group stage. But she's still happy to be back at the King Saud University Indoor Arena.

"It's amazing, I see you guys are bigger quantity than last year and bigger quality I guess, with the Polish flags! No, just kidding!" she laughed.

"I'm happy that I can play in front of you and I'm happy that this tournament is also developing. I feel that we can really do a lot in terms of making tennis popular and giving some opportunities in countries where they weren't available before, so I'm happy to be a part of that."

Swiatek will be full of confidence going into her remaining group stage matches against Anisimova and Rybakina. And no one will want to face her if she advances to the semi-finals and beyond.