Playing on the first Monday of September, the 23-year-old Niemeier pushed the top-seeded Swiatek to three sets. Ultimately, the Pole prevailed, advancing to her first US Open quarterfinal, 2-6, 6-4, 6-0, after two hours and 23 minutes
It was the players’ first meeting, and Swiatek admitted beforehand that “I don't know a lot honestly [about Niemeier’s game]. I know she has a pretty nice serve. We never practiced, so I don't know how it feels on a racquet. Tactically, I trust my coach that he's going to prepare well. I know she is really talented. It's going to be a great battle.”
The first two sets certainly were a "great battle."
In the first set, Niemeier took a 2-0 lead by winning 8 of the first 11 points and breaking Swiatek in the opening game. Niemeier broke Swiatek again in the seventh game to take a 5-2 lead and serve for the set. After double-faulting on the first set point, Neimeier prevailed on the next one to take the set 6-2, when Swiatek hit a forehand into the net.
In the second set, both players had such a hard time holding serve in that set, that they were broken in seven of the 10 games. In set two alone, Niemeier only put 47% of her first serves into play; during the crucial 10th game where she had a chance to even the set at five apiece, she made her ninth double fault of the match, ceding the set to Swiatek, 4-6.
Swiatek regained form in the third set, while Niemeier’s first-serve percentage continued to drop all the way down to 37%.
Asked what she was “most proud of” about the match in which she made 31 unforced errors (compared to Niemeier’s 45), Swiatek said: “That’s a tough question, honestly. I’m just proud I didn’t lose hope. In the second set, I tried to focus on small things. I’m pretty glad it worked.
“For sure I'm pretty happy that I didn't give up,” Swiatek added, explaining how she tried to find solutions in the second and third sets.
Despite the match's intense physicality, Swiatek said she felt like she outpowered her opponent at the end and that she was "solid" during the important moments.
“For sure this match gave me a lot," Swiatek said. "It's nice to come back and lean on that, that you can change something and play better, also make some adjustment during the game."
In the quarterfinals, Swiatek will face No. 8 seed Jessica Pegula from Buffalo, N.Y., who beat two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova in straight sets earlier in the day.
"I think she has a game style that suits these courts," Swiatek said of Pegula. Explaining that her confidence improves with each match, the Pole is still trying to maintain expectations: "I'm just happy that I did a better job than last year and I'm going to push forward."
usopen.org
Well this match can only be described as ugly. Sometimes winning ugly is the only way to go. That's what happened here.
I gotta say there were several times during this match I thought Iga was a goner (and my brand new 4K tv was in real danger of sustaining damaged due to that frustration).
If it wasn't for her concentration, perseverance and physical conditioning along with a few lucky/tight errors from her opponent at the end of the 2nd set she probably wouldn't have made it.
I guess it's as the saying goes champions find a way, even if that way is not a pretty one at times.
She definitely has some things to work on in practice before her battle with Pegula on Wednesday, about the only good thing coming out of this match was Iga's 19th bagel set of the year.
On another very positive note Poland finally has the first ever woman quarterfinalist in the United States Open.
Makes it worth all the stress and definitely something to be extremely proud of.
Onward to the next, Jazda!
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