Barbora Krejcikova was one of a handful of players to beat Iga Swiatek last year and she hopes to make it two wins in a row against the world No 1 when they meet in the Dubai Tennis Championships.

Swiatek lost only nine matches during an incredible 2022 season that saw her win eight titles and one of those defeats came against Krejcikova in the final of the Ostrava Open.

The Czech no doubt hopes to repeat that result on Saturday, but she is not divulging publicly how she plans to play against the three-time Grand Slam winner.

“I’m definitely not going to tell you what I’m going to do tomorrow, how I beat her in Ostrava. I have to say, it’s always a huge challenge. I love challenges,” Krejcikova said.

“I expect it’s going to be really difficult because she’s in a great form and she’s playing well. I believe that I’m playing well, as well. I think that I can find a plan that can push her on a back leg. I believe that I have a chance.”

There will be a fourth career meeting between the duo after they came through contrasting wins in the semi-final with Swiatek improving her record against Coco Gauff to 6-0 with a 6-4, 6-2 victory while Krejcikova produced an incredible deciding set to defeat third seed Jessica Pegula 6-1, 5-7, 6-0.

“Coco is a great player and I knew it was going to be tough. Especially after last year when we played five times, because you never know if you’re going to see something new or not,” Swiatek, who won the Qatar Open last week, said.

She added: “I feel like it’s little bit easier playing on slower hard courts comparing to what we played in Australia. I just feel like I can do a little bit more, and I’m kind of using that.

“It’s a combination of couple of things because I also worked really hard to get my confidence back in Warsaw. And technique also I feel much better.”

Krejcikova beat the second and third seeds in Dubai this week, having also taken out Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.

“I mean, it definitely gives me a lot of confident. I think my game is improving with every match and I’m really happy with that. I mean, tomorrow is going to be new match, new day, different player, different day definitely,” the world No 30 said.

“I just have to sleep well today and just try to prepare the best way because I’m going to be playing the best player in the world.”

READ MORE: Iga Swiatek’s 2023 tennis schedule: Where is she competing next and her season so far…

The article Barbora Krejcikova keeps cards on how to beat Iga Swiatek close to her chest ahead of final – ‘I have a chance’ appeared first on Tennis365.com.