After Ash Barty unstoppably swept to Australian Open glory in January, it looked like the then world no.1 was set for a period of dominance.
Fast forward a little over three months and the complexion of women's tennis has completely changed with 20-year-old Polish prodigy Iga Swiatek setting herself up to rule the sport.
Swiatek won her fifth consecutive WTA 1000 title with a straight sets destruction of Ons Jabeur at the Italian Open on Sunday, who is arguably in career-best form during the clay court season, winning the Madrid Open last week.
Barty's exit paves the way for Swiatek's rise to queen
Barty's shock retirement opened up a vacuum in the women's game, with Swiatek moving from world no.2 to no.1 as a result of the Australian's departure in late March.
Swiatek had stunned the tennis world in 2020 when at 19 years old and ranked 54 in the world, she won the 2020 French Open without dropping a set.
While only one title followed in the rest of 2020 and the duration of 2021 (Adelaide International), Swiatek worked her way up the rankings to be the world no.2 after the 2022 Australian Open.
But there was no sign of what was to come over the first part of 2022.
Swiatek starts slow but takes over women's tennis in 2022
In a little over a month, Swiatek has gone from Barty's challenger to a true monster in women's tennis - it's just a shame we couldn't see a titanic battle between the Pole and the Aussie.
After starting the 2022 season with a last-four loss to Barty at the Adelaide International and a semi-final defeat against Danielle Collins at the Australian Open, Swiatek has only lost one match since, winning five of the six tournaments she has played in, including four WTA 1000 titles.
With her last defeat coming against Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai on February 16, Swiatek has won 28 straight matches on her way to clinching the titles at the Qatar 1000, Indian Wells 1000, Miami 1000, Stuttgart 500 and Rome 1000.
But Swiatek's dominance of women's tennis doesn't just extend to victory amounts, with the right-handed Pole absolutely thrashing her opponents, winning 42 of her past 43 sets.
Her recent win at the Italian Open and April's triumph at the Miami Open were achieved without dropping a set, and against some of the world's best including Naomi Osaka, Jessica Pegula, Aryna Sabalenka and Jabeur.
And then there is her record in finals, having won her last eight without any of her opponents managing to win more than five games across the whole match.
Swiatek is an almost unbackable favourite to win her second French Open crown at the start of June, who is going to stop the end boss monster?
Iga Swiatek's extraordinary 2022 season to date
- Became world no.1 after Ash Barty's retirement
- Four WTA 1000 titles (Rome, Miami, Indian Wells, Qatar)
- One WTA 500 title (Stuttgart)
- Has won her last 28 matches without defeat
- Has only lost three times in 2022 (Barty, Collins, Ostapenko)
- Has won 42 of her past 43 sets
- Didn't drop a set on her way to winning Rome and Miami
