Swiatek vs Gauff: Roma SF Analysis

Head-to-head became 10-1 because Swiatek created a massive 16-1 advantage in one metric during the Roma semi-final. Can you guess this decisive metric?

cover 📸 credit: OptaAce twitter

The head-to-head record between Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff now stands at 10-1 in favour of Swiatek. That is the consequence.

Here is the cause behind Swiatek’s latest win:

2-shot rallies won

• Swiatek: 16

• Gauff: 1

That was the most impactful metric in the Roma semi-final (circled in red, below).

A 2-shot rally has the return as the last shot that lands in court. So there are only 2 possibilities: a return winner is hit; or the server makes an error on the following shot (known as “serve+1”).

In yesterday’s Roma semi-final, Swiatek struck 3 return winners and she also had another 6 returns that forced errors on Gauff’s following “serve+1” shots. All added up, that’s 9 points won by crushing returns.

With so much return pressure coming her way, Gauff was uncomfortable even when she had more manageable balls. As a result, she made 7 unforced errors on “serve+1s”. A total that corresponds to 41% of Gauff’s unforced errors in the match (7/17).

Swiatek’s 2-shot rallies won