Andre Agassi’s former coach Brad Gilbert in awe of Steffi Graf-like Iga Swiatek as world No. 1 continues sublime form at Dubai Tennis Championships

Iga Swiatek continued her utterly dominant run of form, beating world No. 13 Liudmila Samsonova 6-1, 6-0 on Wednesday to enter the quarterfinals of the 2023 Dubai Tennis Championships. Leading tennis coach Brad Gilbert was in awe of Swiatek after yet another clinical performance and suggested that her ongoing run of form is reminiscent of Steffi Graf.

Adding another ‘bagel’ (6-0 set) and ‘breadstick’ (6-1 set) to her recent results with the win against Samsonova, the world No. 1 has now dropped a mere eight games in her last 10 completed sets on tour. In only one of those sets did Swiatek lose more than one game.

As Swiatek made light work of Samsonova in an hour and 16 minutes on Wednesday, Gilbert, the former coach of Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick, highlighted how such dominant scorelines have become routine for Swiatek. Carrying on from her Qatar Open title, the Polish superstar is now on a 6-match winning streak.

“Iga Pop continues to steam roll in the desert. Can’t even say she is takin 13th ranked Samsonova to the woodshed, just normal scoreline atm,” Brad Gilbert wrote on Twitter.

He compared her run of form to that of former world No. 6 Kent Carlson of Sweden, who won all nine of his career singles titles on clay.

“Way back in the day Kent Carlson would do this on clay for a short period of time till unfortunately body didn’t hold up for him,” Gilbert added,

Responding to a fan who highlighted that Swiatek’s current level of tennis is very Steffi Graf-esque, Gilbert was in full agreement.

Swiatek faces former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek won their only previous contest 6-0, 6-0 in the 2021 Italian Open final.

Andy Murray hails “different” Iga Swiatek over incredible run of form

Reacting to Iga Swiatek’s run since the start of the 2023 Qatar Open, Andy Murray hailed the 21-year-old, simply stating that she is ‘different’ than everyone else on tour. Swiatek has dropped eight games across her last five matches, all against players who are either inside the Top-20 or are former Grand Slam champions.

“She is different,” Murray tweeted, reacting to a post highlighting Swiatek’s recent results.

Australian Open finalist Elena Rybakina’s withdrawal from the Dubai Tennis Championships means that if Iga Swiatek beats Pliskova in the quarterfinals, she will face either Coco Gauff or Madison Keys in the semifinals. The two-time French Open champion has never lost a WTA 1000 match after winning the opening set and is now 35-0.