"Ended the year through the Iga Swiatek bakery" - Jessica Pegula jokes after brutal WTA Finals 2023 championship loss to the Pole

Jessica Pegula recently made a witty remark at her own expense after suffering a 6-1, 6-0 loss to Iga Swiatek in the championship match of the 2023 WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, on Monday (November 6).

Pegula had a great season on the women's tour in 2023. The 29-year-old accumulated a 59-18 win-loss record, with two titles and US $12.4 million in prize money winnings.

Jessica Pegula also put together a phenomenal campaign at last week's WTA Finals, not dropping a single set en route to the final. She, however, wasn't prepared for Iga Swiatek's barrage of groundstrokes during the summit clash in Cancun, winning only one game across two sets.

The American took to social media on Tuesday (November 7) to summarize her 2023 season. She was admittedly proud of her achievements during the year, but she did hilariously rue the fact that her season had to end with a trip to the "Iga bakery factory".

"Ended the year through the bakery factory lol. Jokes aside. 2023 in the books," she wrote in her Instagram story, followed by a hands raise emoji.

A screen capture of Pegula's Instagram story

For the uninitiated, the fun bit about Iga Swiatek owning a "bakery" was started by the tennis community on social media not too long ago. The reason behind this gag was the 22-year-old's penchant for blanking players by a scoreline of 6-0 or 6-1, which are colloquially called 'bagel' and 'breadstick', respectively, by fans.

Swiatek, however, isn't fond of the term out of respect for her opponents.

"I don't want to really talk about that, because I really get why people do that, because it's fun and tennis is entertainment and everything. But like from players' point of view, I want to kind of be respectful to my opponents and, you know, you don't see the stuff that is behind the scenes," Iga Swiatek said to the press in June.

Jessica Pegula has won only three of her nine matches against Iga Swiatek

Jessica Pegula (L) and Iga Swiatek greet each other following their 2022 US Open match

Although Jessica Pegula suffered a blowout loss at Iga Swiatek's hands, she can perhaps take pride in the fact that she beat the Pole in two of their four meetings on the WTA tour in 2023.

Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek's last encounter before the WTA Finals came in the semifinals of the 2023 Canadian Open in Montreal, which the former won 6-2, 6-7(4), 6-4. The American also beat the Pole in relatively straightforward fashion at the United Cup in January.

Swiatek, meanwhile, beat the women's World No. 5 at the year-ending championships and the 2023 Qatar Open final. She also won four back-to-back matches in their rivalry last year, which have helped her mount a 6-3 lead in their head-to-head meetings on the WTA tour.