Iga Swiatek breathing down on Roger Federer’s career bagel record as the Pole’s ‘bakery’ continues to wreak havoc

Iga Swiatek gets close to Roger Federer's Bagel record after emphatic win over Danielle Collins.

Iga Swiatek breathing down on Roger Federer’s career bagel record as the Pole’s ‘bakery’ continues to wreak havoc

Iga Swiatek and Roger Federer (Getty Images)

Bagel in tennis is one of the biggest signs of dominance from a player and humiliation for the opponent. In tennis, a bagel is when the set ends with a score of 6–0. Tennis players often use the word bagel to represent the score of zero because it resembles the shape of a bagel. 4-times Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek is no stranger to a bagel as she scored the first double bagel in a WTA 1000 final, defeating top ten Czech player, and former world number 1, Karolína Plíšková in Rome.

The world number one scored yet another bagel in her round 2 win over Danielle Collins. The Polish player got the better of Collins in 2-sets, winning comprehensively with a score of 6-1,6-0. With another bagel to her name, Swiatek’s career bagel tally reached 65. For some context on Swiatek’s dominance, Roger Federer managed 89 bagels over his 24-year career. Swiatek, 22 years old, has a long career ahead of her to add to her bagel tally. It won’t be a big surprise if Swiatek crosses the three-digit mark in the next few years.

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This was Swiatek’s second win over Collins in a week. The first one came at last week’s National Bank Open. This victory was Swiatek’s 9th match in 2023 where the World No.1 conceded 0 or 1 game. The world number one will look forward to replicate this dominance at the US Open.

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Iga Swiatek not surprised by high retirement count in Cincinnati Masters

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Iga Swiatek (Credits: EuroSport)

Several players have raised concerns regarding the scheduling of matches in recent days. Players including Swiatek, Elena Rybakina, Victoria Azarenka and Novak Djokovic have called out the Tournament authorities and ATP, and WTA for prioritising profits over the player’s health. Due to the hectic schedule, several players have retired from their matches at the ongoing Cincinnati Masters.

There have been six mid-match retirements in Cincinnati in the space of 24 hours. The list of players retiring include Elena Rybakina, Rune, McDonald, Vekic, Lajovic and Davidovich Fokina. Talking about the long list of retirements, Swiatek said, “I think it’s harder & harder. Tournaments, if they are longer, we have less time in between tournaments to recover. I think it’s going to be pretty extreme next year if all the 1000 tournaments are going to be almost 2 weeks. So I don’t think it’s a coincidence.”

Calling on the WTA and ATP to take action, the world number one remarked, “I think it’s a sign for WTA & ATP to kind of take it easy on us. On the other side, there’s business they need to take care of.. Our season is actually going to get longer.” Swiatek believes that players have to take responsibility for themselves and know when to take a break.

Iga Swiatek recently lost to Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. With the win, the teenage sensation ended her streak of losing 14 sets in a row to the world number one. Gauff managed to get her first win over Swiatek after 7 consecutive losses to reach her first WTA 1000 final. Meanwhile, Swiatek would hope to arrive at the US Open in the best possible condition to defend her title and the number 1 spot.

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