Iga Swiatek and Magda Linette clinch quarterfinals for Poland at Billie Jean King Cup

 

World No.2 Iga Swiatek and No.38 Magda Linette sealed a victory for Poland over Spain in the first round of the Billie Jean King Cup Finals, giving them an insurmountable 2-0 lead.

The best-of-three tie was postponed from Wednesday due to a severe weather alert in the region. Linette opened the festivities with a marathon 7-6(6), 2-6, 6-4 defeat of Sara Sorribes Tormo in 3 hours and 51 minutes. Swiatek closed out the win by overcoming a second-set wobble to beat Badosa 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.

"I wouldn't say I pushed us to quarterfinals," Swiatek said on court. "Magda played an amazing match in the morning. We both did it. I'm really happy that we finally won a match at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals."

Poland advances to the quarterfinals to face 11-time champions the Czech Republic on Saturday. After Karolina Muchova's withdrawal ahead of the event, the Czech squad will be comprised of Linda Noskova, Marie Bouzkova, Sara Bejlek and Katerina Siniakova.

Swiatek and Badosa had exchanged victories in two previous encounters, both in 2021. Badosa scored a 6-3, 7-6(4) upset at the Tokyo Olympic Games, but Swiatek avenged that loss 7-5, 6-4 at the WTA Finals Guadalajara. Initially, there was little between them as their third meeting got underway. For the first six games, the pair delivered a succession of thrilling, high-octane baseline exchanges, and neither gave ground on serve.

After Badosa double faulted down break point at 3-2, Swiatek rattled off seven straight games in dominant fashion to take a 3-0 second-set lead. But Badosa found her form again to fight back and send the set to a tiebreak, which she edged 7-5.

"In the beginning, I felt like it was my best match since I'm back after US Open," Swiatek said, "but later on for sure she pushed me and there was a lot of pressure. The tiebreak, I knew every point mattered and I did one little mistake and unfortunately it went her way.

"But I knew I could come back in the third set and try to win it for Poland."

While holding serve was the norm in the first set, it proved to be a premium in the third. After exchanging three breaks of serve to open the decider, Swiatek snapped the streak to hold for a 3-1 lead. She extended her advantage to a double-break to lead 4-1 before the match was paused to attend to an ill spectator. On the resumption, Swiatek protected her lead to close out the win.

Earlier, Linette put Poland up 1-0 on the hosts by coming back from 3-0 down in the third set to earn her first career win over Sorribes Tormo. Linette had lost all four of her previous meetings with Sorribes Tormo, including at the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

"I hate playing Sara so much!" she said in her on-court interview. "I knew it was going to take me four hours, and it did."

Sorribes Tormo showed immense grit to the very last point. On Linette's first match point, Sorribes Tormo conjured a remarkable lob off a Linette drive volley that just dropped inside the court. However, the Pole continued to commit to coming forward, and solid net play finally saw her get over the line.

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It's so good to see Iga one more time before the season ends. It's especially good to see her playing well and enjoying herself in a team atmosphere. 

I was so disappointed when Iga didn't make it out of the group stage at WTA Finals this year (due to dumb round robin rules that give me a headache) watching her here is more than making up for it. 

Her match with Linda Noskova tomorrow could be a  lot of fun.

I can honestly say I've enjoyed this year's BJK Cup more than the ATP Finals, which have been a bit predictable and boring. 

With Alcaraz out in the group stages due to a bad cold, I will be shocked if anyone other than Jannik Sinner wins it.

Iga Swiatek loses to Gauff in WTA Finals Round Robin still with a shot to make the semis

On Thursday, three players will be competing for two semifinal spots out of the Orange Group at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF. Sort of.

One of those spots is assured of going to Coco Gauff, whose straight-sets win over Iga Swiatek on Tuesday -- just her second over the Pole in 13 career meetings -- ensured that the World No.3 has a place in the knockout rounds. But her position is up in the air -- though the American largely controls her own destiny in the race to finish as group winner.

One of those spots is assured of going to Coco Gauff, whose straight-sets win over Iga Swiatek on Tuesday -- just her second over the Pole in 13 career meetings -- ensured that the World No.3 has a place in the knockout rounds. But her position is up in the air -- though the American largely controls her own destiny in the race to finish as group winner.

Swiatek, and Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova, are in contention for the remaining spot. On Thursday, Gauff will face Krejcikova and Swiatek will face 2023 WTA Finals runner-up Jessica Pegula, who has no chance of repeating that feat in Riyadh, having already been eliminated from semifinal contention with two straight-set losses to Gauff and Krejcikova.

Let's break the road to the semifinals down for all three women.

How can Gauff win the group?

A win for Gauff against Krejcikova will put her into the semifinals as the group's winner with a 3-0 record, no matter the result between Swiatek and Pegula.

Crucially, the first-place finisher in the Orange Group will avoid a semifinal against World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka, who has qualified for the semifinals as the winner of the Purple Group.

Gauff can also finish in the top spot if Krejcikova beats her in three sets AND Swiatek beats Pegula.

What is Swiatek's path to the semifinals?

Swiatek, the 2023 WTA Finals champion, has only one path to the knockout rounds: She must beat Pegula, and Gauff must also win, for Swiatek to qualify in the second spot.

 
Where does Krejcikova fit in?

Krejcikova -- who lost a 6-4, 3-0 lead to Swiatek earlier in the week -- put herself back in contention with her 6-3, 6-3 win over Pegula. The Czech can clinch the top spot in the group for herself -- and avoid a match against Sabalenka, whom she's lost to six times in seven matches, in the semifinals -- if she beats Gauff in two sets and Swiatek beats Pegula, or if she beats Gauff and Pegula beats Swiatek.

Krejcikova will qualify behind Gauff if Pegula beats Swiatek.

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Well I did say it would come down to who's more solid on the forehand and serve and it kind of did. 

Despite Iga having plenty of chances in set 2 in particular (and being up a break twice) Gauff won all the important point and subsequently won the match in straights. 

Quality wise the match was all over the place from both. I'd say only the first half of set 1 was good.

Iga definitely didn't have her rhythm today on serve or forehand, and once again made too many unforced errors very much the result of lack of match play.

As I said I didn't have high expectations with this tournament but I'm still hopeful for her match against Pegula on Thursday. 

If she plays one solid match this tournament without getting broken that will be a win for this tournament.

Regardless of how the result with Saba in the semis would go. Selfishly I just want to see her play a bit more before the season comes to a close.

But of course it's not only up to Iga. It's up to the woman that beat her. She wins Iga goes through (round robin math is confusingly ridiculous).

Jazda Iga, go out there and play without any pressure. Plenty of players have won this thing even though they were down and out. Never say never.

Iga Swiatek gets hard fought first win at WTA Finals after 2 months absence from tour

I have  missed this outfit very much love the shoes

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Down a set and two service breaks in the second, No.2 seed Iga Swiatek rallied to stun No.8 Barbora Krejcikova 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 on Sunday at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF.

The unlikely victory kept alive Swiatek’s flickering hopes of reclaiming the No.1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka.

The first step was nearly a staggering misstep, as Swiatek, who hadn’t played a match in two months and arrived here with a new coach, at times looked flustered. It wasn’t until she was down 3-0 in the second set that she began to look like a five-time Grand Slam singles champion.

“Even though I played a lot of those [practice] matches,” Swiatek said afterward. “I kind of forgot for a while how it is to feel all those things, a bit different stress and emotions. For sure, I needed some time to adapt. The most important thing was that even though it happened, I managed to fight through that. And was patient enough to wait to get better.”

In a season marred by injury, Krejcikova had played only 29 matches coming into these WTA Finals. But seven of them, all victories, happened at Wimbledon and, based on new rules, she qualified for her second year-end tournament in singles.

Krejcikova pounced immediately in this one, breaking Swiatek’s opening service game when the 23-year-old from Poland launched an awkward forehand long. Swiatek’s best chance to level the set came with Krejcikova serving at 3-2. A double fault -- the first sign of nerves -- gave Swiatek three break points. Krejcikova saved them all and escaped with the game when Swiatek’s return was long.

In the second set, Krejcikova again started quickly, breaking Swiatek in her first two service games and taking what looked to be an insurmountable 3-0 lead. But just as suddenly, after Swiatek scored two breaks, it was 3-all.

They continued on serve until, with Krejcikova serving to force a tiebreak, Swiatek broke through once more. She converted her second set point when a Krejcikova backhand soared long. After 107 minutes, it was one set apiece -- and both players had won 69 points.

The momentum continued for Swiatek when she broke Krejcikova to take a 2-0 lead, which soon ballooned to 5-0. Krejcikova extended it with one last break.

Swiatek won 13 of the final 17 games. Overall, she hit 10 aces and finished with 40 winners. Match time: 2 hours, 32 minutes.

“Honestly, I just focused on getting the balls in,” Swiatek said of the early going. “I needed to focus on the easy stuff. My main goal was just to be solid.

“I’m happy that I won because at the beginning I felt a little bit rusty. “

She's now 10-3 in matches at the WTA Finals, a winning percentage of 76.9, equaling Elina Svitolina’s standard for active players, with a minimum of 10 matches. Swiatek is now 60-8 (.882), the WTA Tour’s best winning percentage.

“It definitely wasn’t the best tennis I can play, but I was really quite solid,” Krejcikova said afterward. “I just feel I lost a little bit the momentum of the match and obviously, I’m not really sure if it was me or Iga. She just came up and started to play more aggressive, started to hit her targets better.

“Yeah, unfortunately, it’s Iga -- and you have to play two sets better than her.”

Even if Swiatek goes on to win the year-end event, Sabalenka can wrap up the top spot by winning her two remaining matches in group play.

In advance of the WTA Finals, for the first time in a couple of years, Swiatek actually practiced with Sabalenka -- the player who snatched away her No.1 ranking near the end of the past two seasons.

In 2023, Swiatek put together a blazing 11-0 run -- that included the title at the WTA Finals in Cancun -- and took it back. But this year, the gap was larger and the task more daunting. Swiatek needed another title at the year-end championships, along with some help from Sabalenka.

“Obviously we’re both fighting for this spot,” Swiatek said ahead of play. “Yeah, it’s been us basically kind of over the past few years. I mean, I am in the tournament. I obviously want to play my best game here and win this tournament.

“I’m just going to focus on my first match and do everything step by step.”


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Well it wasn't a pretty start, but in tennis it's not really how you start but how you finish. And as the match went on and Iga calmed down she got into a better rhythm and took it to Krejcikova. 

I really didn't know what to expect after such a long absence, and I definitely knew there would be some rust as was apparent in the first set and a half. I'm actually really impressed with how Iga was able to not panic and regroup despite not having to feel this sort of stress for 2 months. 

It made me sad to hear in Polish interviews that she had to stop thinking about a lot of external factors coming from Poland during her match. 

Which I can only speculate might have something to do with how the media was abusively criticizing her mental coach in particular. 

It's also possible that whatever else was happening was of a very personal nature that effected her greatly. The fact she was able to overcome and block it mid-match just shows her incredible mental resilience. 

Perhaps most impressive today was how many aces Iga hit. 10 in one match is a personal record (don't think I've seen her hit double digits in a match before). Amazingly she had more aces than Sabalenka and Rybakina combined. 

Which is a little mind blowing, but very much welcome. If this is a sign of working with Wim Fisette, more of that please!. And all this before they even get to truly work on things like the serve and her game in the off season. 

Coco Gauff up next for Iga who had a solid 2nd career win over Pegula. Even though Iga has an overwhelming H2H I never take their matches lightly especially since Coco has been playing solidly after the U.S. Open. So it'll come down to who's more solid on the forehand and serve-wise. 

Hopefully Iga will have a much better start and is able to feel the court better after a lengthy battle. 

Most of all I'm just so damn happy to see her back on court, I'm aware I'm coming off very biased as I say this but she has breathed a bit of life to the end of this season. 

Which at times  has lacked energy and intrigue in the last few months.

Top 8 Women of the 2024 WTA Finals all glamoured up in Riyadh

 

WTA Finals defending champion Iga Swiatek lands in Orange Group with Pegula and Gauff

Defending champion Iga Swiatek was on hand for the draw ceremony at the WTA Finals Riyadh presented by PIF to see how this year's groups shook out for the season-ending championships.

For the second straight year, the year-end No.1 ranking will come down to the final event of the season, as World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka looks to hold off No.2 Swiatek down the final stretch.

 
Singles Draw

Purple Group
[1] Aryna Sabalenka
[4] Jasmine Paolini
[5] Elena Rybakina
[7] Zheng Qinwen

Orange Group
[2] Iga Swiatek
[3] Coco Gauff
[6] Jessica Pegula
[8] Barbora Krejcikova

Tournament format: Round-robin play begins on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 3:30 p.m. on the indoor hard courts at the King Saud University Sports Arena. The top two finishers out of each group will advance to the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 8, with the winners advancing to the final on Saturday, Nov.9.

Top-seeded Sabalenka and the Purple Group will get underway on Saturday, with the Orange Group set to begin on Sunday.

Order of Play: Day 1

[3] Hsieh/Mertens vs. [6] Melichar-Martinez/Perez
[1] Sabalenka vs. [7] Zheng
[4] Paolini vs. [5] Rybakina
[1] Kichenok/Ostapenko vs. [8] Siniakova/Townsend

Order of Play: Day 2

[2] Dabrowski/Routliffe vs. [7] Chan/Kudermetova
[2] Swiatek vs. [8] Krejcikova
[3] Gauff vs. [6] Pegula
[4] Errrani/Paolini vs. [5] Dolehide/Krawczyk

In the 53rd staging of the Hologic WTA Tour's crown-jewel event, this season's eight best singles players and doubles teams will battle it out for a record-setting total prize money purse of $15,250,000, with an undefeated singles champion set to take home over $5 million.

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Iga Swiatek hires Wim Fisette as new coach

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has hired Wim Fissette as her new coach as she continues to prepare for next month's WTA Finals Riyadh.

"I'm happy to announce that Wim Fissette is joining our team," Swiatek posted on social media. "As you know, I'm preparing for the WTA Finals but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint and I'm working, operating and making decisions with this approach.

"I want to say that I'm very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision and huge experience at a very top level of tennis. It's always crucial to try and get to know each other better but we're off to a good start and I can't wait to compete soon."

The news comes two weeks after the end of her three-year partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski, with whom she had worked since the end of 2021 -- a period during which Swiatek won fiour of her five Grand Slam titles and ascended to World No.1 for the first time. Prior to Wiktorowski, Swiatek had been coached by Piotr Sierzputowski since 2016. Fissette will be her first non-Polish coach.

Swiatek will be the sixth sometime World No.1 player Fissette has coached. The 44-year-old Belgian has previously had stints with Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber and Naomi Osaka. Fissette has coached Osaka in matches against Swiatek twice -- in the 2022 Miami final, which Osaka lost 6-4, 6-0; and in the Roland Garros second round this year, which Osaka lost 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 from match point up. Osaka announced the end of their four-year collaboration in September.

Swiatek has not competed since her quarterfinal loss to Jessica Pegula at the US Open, and her World No.1 ranking will be under threat from Aryna Sabalenka in the coming weeks.

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Well Wim was indeed the top choice. Makes perfect sense. 1 He was available having just split with Osaka. 2 He has so much experience working with world #1s and his calm temperament really fits the Iga team vibe. 

I really think he'll help Iga develop her skills as a player, make her use all the tools in her tool box and not be afraid to come to the net. 

Obviously big changes are not something that will happen over night, but I'm genuinely excited to see them work together at the WTA Finals in a few short weeks. 

And speaking of the WTA Finals it now seems that Iga will literally have to win every single match in order to take back the number one ranking (and Saba would have to lose 1 or 2). 

Even then it may not be enough and it's very likely Saba will keep the #1 ranking into next year.

Oh yeah, I'm posting this a bit late so Sabalenka is now officially the new world number one again as of this week. 

Thanks to probably the dumbest change in the ranking system in the sports history. 

A system that apparently penalizes a player for not losing badly enough in the mandatory 500 events (of which there are now unnecessarily 6 of), or something along those lines. 

Seriously the fact that the WTA had to release an article explaining it is evidence in itself. 

We went from 12 mandatory tournaments to 20 in one year and extended quite a few by 2 weeks. And this is how the ranking is calculated?. 

Your least bad mandatory event result?. 

Absolutely ridiculous.

I really hope it is corrected in the very near future, or literally no one will be able to understand how it works much less be able to follow it. 

However this season ends for Iga I just honestly cannot wait to see her back on court again. I just want to see her healthy, happy and thriving in a sport she loves and is so damn good at.

The tour is simply not the same without her around.

Iga Swiatek splits with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski

World No.1 Iga Swiatek has announced the end of her three-year coaching partnership with Tomasz Wiktorowski. Swiatek announced the news on Instagram on Friday.

"After 3 years of the greatest achievements in my career, together with my coach Tomasz Wiktorowski we decided to part way," Swiatek wrote. "I want to start with a big thank you and appreciating our work together."

Swiatek hired Wiktorowski, the long-time coach of former World No.2 at the end of the 2021 season. Under Wiktorowski's tutelage, Swiatek went on to capture four of her five Grand Slams, ascend to World No.1, and engineer the longest win streak of the 2000s, reeling off 37 consecutive wins in 2022. Together, they captured 19 of her 22 career titles and an Olympic silver medal this past summer.

Last year, Wiktorowski was voted the WTA's Coach of the Year by his peers.

"Coach Wiktorowski joined my team for three seasons, when I strongly needed changes and a fresh approach to my game," Swiatek wrote. "His experience, analytical and strategic attitude and enormous knowledge about tennis helped us to achieve things I've never dreamed of only a few months after we started working together.

"Our main goal was to become No.1 player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first. We aimed very high, we headed to every tournament with a clear goal to win it. Together with coach Wiktorowski we won many tournaments and 4 Grand Slams."

Swiatek withdrew from this week's China Open, where was a defending champion, and next week's Dongfeng Voyah Wuhan Open. This year, she has won four WTA 1000 titles this year at Doha, Indian Wells, Madrid and Rome, as well as her fifth major title at Roland Garros. She has qualified for her fourth consecutive WTA Finals in Riyadh, which will be played in November.

She confirmed in her post that she is in the midst of the process of hiring a new coach.

"Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start a cooperation with a new coach," she wrote. "I'm in the middle of first talks with coaches from abroad (non-Polish) because I'm ready to take the next step of my career. I will let you know when I make a decision."

According to Swiatek's post, the decision to end her work with Wiktorowski was mutual and amicable.

"Coach, THANK YOU, I wish you all the best," Swiatek wrote. "I know that you would like to rest after these 3 years of hard work and traveling a lot and spending some well deserved time with your loved ones and I hope you'll get what you need."

wtatennis.com

This was quite surprise to fans and tennis personalities alike. I think for many the most surprising is the timing. 

On the one hand it would seem to make more sense to stay with the same coach till the end of the year and start fresh in 2025. 

On the other hand on the constant hamster wheel that is the tennis tour there is no good time for something like this. 

End of the season does give her more time to find someone and see how they gel in the off season before working on tour together. The spit certainly seemed mutual. 

As she states seems like her coach has had enough of the tour life and Iga herself is searching for some new energy and a new voice. 

Being very ambitious she's always working on improving her game and I guess on some level she felt like with Thomas she has gone as far as she could.

Seems like Iga realized that if she wants to do better at places like Wimbledon or Australia she has to be willing to make some big changes.

He helped her fulfill everything he promised chief among them being world #1 and then some. What they have done together is nothing short of extraordinary  19 titles in all (4 of them Slams). 

Wiktorowski really helped to unlock Iga's potential so as a fan I'll always be grateful for that. Having Iga at the top of the sport has made it better.

She'll now be working with a non-Polish coach (something she mentioned she might be ready for in 2 or 3 years). So in that sense she's definitely sticking to that timeline. Which will be fascinating.   

There's a lot of online speculation about who that person might be. Top 2 at the moment seem to be former coach of Osaka and Kerber, Wim Fisette. As well as Justine Henin's coach Carlos Rodriguez. 

All very intriguing choices. I guess the question will be how receptive the rest of the Iga team will be to allowing someone new to take the lead and bring in some changes.

It's understandable that Iga has chosen to withdraw from some tournaments to deal with it all (also mentioned being tired having played so many tournaments again this year). 

Selfishly I was hoping she she would play Wuhan because 2 months without Iga is just too long. And in my very biased opinion the tour is a bit boring without her in the mix.

Plus it also means the WTA Finals will be a real battle for world #1 again. A spot which Sabalenka could once again take if she were to reach the quarter finals of Wuhan. Muchova stopped her in Bejing but she's always had more success in Wuhan.

Iga Swiatek moves to 7th place on all time world #1 list at 122 weeks

Sometimes it's hard to believe this image is from 2022 & 2 years later Iga is still #1

World No.1 Iga Swiatek will spend her 122nd week at World No.1 on the PIF WTA Rankings this week, moving past Ashleigh Barty to sit at No.7 on the all-time list.

Only six players have tallied more weeks as World No.1 than Swiatek:

Cumulative weeks at World No.1:

1. Stefanie Graf: 377 weeks
2. Martina Navratilova: 332 weeks
3. Serena Williams: 319 weeks
4. Chris Evert: 260 weeks
5. Martina Hingis: 209 weeks
6. Monica Seles: 178 weeks
7. Iga Swiatek: 122 weeks

Barty first ascended to No.1 in June of 2019 after winning back-to-back tournaments at the French Open and Birmingham. The Australian held the top ranking for seven weeks before being overtaken by Naomi Osaka for four weeks. Barty retook the top ranking after the 2019 US Open and held it for 114 consecutive weeks until her retirement in April 2022.

Barty's retirement made way for then-No.2 Swiatek, 19, to ascend to the top spot and make history as Poland's first World No.1. She responded with a remarkable 2022 campaign, which saw her win 37 consecutive matches -- the longest streak of the 21st century -- from Doha until Wimbledon and finishing as year-end No.1.

Swiatek held the top ranking for 75 consecutive weeks before relinquishing it to Aryna Sabalenka after the 2023 US Open. Swiatek's 75-week streak is the third longest in tour history for a first-time No.1, behind only Stefanie Graf (186) and Martina Hingis (80).

Last year, Swiatek mounted a furious challenge to retake the World No.1 and finish as year-end No.1 for the second straight season. She won her last 11 matches of the season, taking 22 of 23 sets to sweep titles at the China Open and WTA Finals. With the year-end No.1 ranking on the line in the final two matches of the year, she defeated Sabalenka in the WTA Finals semifinals and then locked up No.1 by beating Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0 in the championship match.


Swiatek has held the No.1 ranking ever since, extending her active streak to 47 consecutive weeks.

More outstanding numbers behind Swiatek's rise and reign at No.1:


Since 2000, Swiatek (26) is one of only three players to claim 25 or more Top 10 wins while holding the No.1 ranking, along with Serena Williams (62) and Justine Henin (28).


Among the 10 players to hold the No.1 ranking over the past 10 years, Swiatek (156) has recorded the most tour-level match wins, eclipsing Serena Williams' 143 wins.


With 21 consecutive wins between Madrid and Wimbledon this year, Swiatek became the first player to win more than 20 straight matches as World No.1 since Serena Williams (26, 2014-15).Since the start of the 2020 season, Swiatek (42) has recorded the most Top 10 wins of any player. She is one of only two players with 25 or more, along with Aryna Sabalenka.


Among the 34 players with more than 20 matches vs. Top 10 opponents since 2020, Swiatek (72.4%, 42-16) is the only player to hold a winning percentage above 50%.

wtatennis.com

Defending Champion Iga Swiatek withdraws from Bejing

World No.1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek has withdrawn from the upcoming China Open in Beijing, citing personal reasons, she and the tournament announced on Friday.

"Due to personal matters, I’m forced to withdraw from the China Open in Beijing. I’m very sorry as I had an amazing time playing and winning this tournament last year and was really looking forward to being back there.

"I know that the fans will experience great tennis there and I’m sorry I won’t be a part of it this time."

The China Open begins on Sept. 25. Last year, Swiatek lost just one set in Beijing en route to winning her sixth career WTA 1000 title in her tournament debut. After ending 2023 US Open champion Coco Gauff's 16-match winning streak in the semifinals, Swiatek defeated Liudmila Samsonova in the final.

This year, Swiatek has won four of the previous eight WTA 1000 events played but last competed in New York. She also withdrew from this week's Hana Bank Korea Open in Seoul citing fatigue.

While Swiatek, World No.9 Maria Sakkari (continuing shoulder injury) and World No.10 Danielle Collins (illness) have withdrawn from the main-draw field, the rest of the Top 10 in the PIF WTA Rankings are all expected to compete. In addition, 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu has withdrawn from qualifying with a knee injury.

Reigning Australian Open and US Open champion Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed in Beijing, a tournament at which she has reached the quarterfinals twice in three career appearances, and US Open runner-up Jessica Pegula is expected to be seeded No.2.

wtatennis.com

I hope everything is ok whatever the reason, hope Iga takes all the time she needs. Though for me the tournament won't be the same without her. 

Thoughts on Iga Swiatek's U.S. Open 2024

Ever since Iga's loss in the Quarterfinals of the U.S. Open there has been a lot of talk on social media regarding improving her tennis starting with changing her team members. Which seems to be the case literally every time she loses early in a Slam. 

People really don't seem to get that a good team takes years to put together and trust not to mention have any meaningful results with. 

Sure sometimes a new voice or perspective is helpful, but the reality of this sport (any sport really) is that you win more than you lose no matter who is part of your team. 

It is impossible to win every tournament no matter how good of an athlete you are, at the end of the day athletes are still human. And they have periods of doubt, mental and physical fatigue.

I think a  lot of people, maybe even Iga herself underestimated how big of a part the Olympics played in the exhaustion for her this year. 

Representing Poland at the Olympics  meant everything to her and the emotions of not winning gold, but coming back to win the bronze must have felt so exhilarating and depleting all at once.

And I think on some level it all contributed to this poor performance in the quarters. It was probably her worst performance all year (and considering she's played over 50 matches) is extraordinary, but sadly under appreciated by many. 

She won 5 titles in the first half of the season (all of them WTA 1000) which are equally as difficult if not more so than a Slam, and yet they don't seem to count because only one of them was a Slam. I don't understand the mentality this sport has regarding the 4 big events.

Tour accomplishments should get the same level of recognition and yet the governing bodies put less significance to them throughout the year and only seem to remember them as part of summation at the end of each season. Or they only get a mention if you win more than 1 slam in a given year. And it's so weird to me. 

While they're important and get the most attention they alone would not be enough to sustain a player in a season (financially and motivation-wise). It's the tour events that showcase how great someone is at managing themselves throughout the year.  

Granted the tour tournaments come with it's on pitfalls which include poor organization in terms of the amount the players are required to play which in the last few years have greatly increased along with the tournaments length.

All of that combined makes it extremely difficult for any player these days to be able to work on their game while constantly on tour. 

Unless they choose to take an extended break either voluntarily or due to injury (as was the case for Sabalenka and Pegula this year). Both of whom reached the U.S. Open final. 

Sabalenka skipped the Olympics and Wimbledon due to injury and I believe it is the sole reason she won. She had plenty of time to rest and properly prepare.

Iga was asked this question in the post match presser and said she has no plans to do the same. I can see both sides of this argument, and the advantages and disadvantages that come with. 

On the one hand it'd allow her to work on things at own pace, but on the other she might be a person for whom an extended break makes it harder to get back into the rhythm and stay motivated (not the mention all the external factors of sponsors, endorsements and being world #1).

Sure she has under performed in Slams as a whole, something her and her team will undoubtedly work hard on to improve. But it is not something that will happen overnight as some people out there seem to think. It's a process that takes time.

As a fan I'm also getting very tired of comments regarding a players ability to dominate on one surface, clay in Iga's case (hard court in Aryna's).

I see nothing wrong with it. Plenty of players have made a whole career out of one particular time of year (Nadal being the prime example). 

Of course in Iga's case the argument is that as the world #1 she should be more adapt on all surfaces on tour. 

Which is valid. 

But there's also the fact that Iga is only 23, even the greatest champions of this sport didn't figure out the different surfaces over night. It took them years, in some cases quite a few. 

Some never did.

But I firmly believe that with her skill, patience and hard work Iga will get there as well. 

It's premature to write off someone's whole career based off of one season's result (a season which isn't even over yet I might add). 

But sadly it seems to be something a lot of people are doing in regards to Iga after this U.S. Open especially and it's quite disparaging for someone of her talent. 

My hope for the rest of this season and beyond is that Iga gets some time to properly relax and recharge before getting back to training and whatever else she needs in order to continue to enjoy being a part of this sport. 

Because the sport is truly better with her in it.

Iga Swiatek back in the quarterfinals of U.S. Open

 

WHAT HAPPENED: While the rest of the women’s field is busy making headlines and stealing the spotlight at the 2024 US Open, top seed and former champion Iga Swiatek is quietly making her way through the draw.

In her milestone 100th Grand Slam singles match Monday night, Swiatek celebrated with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Liudmila Samsonova to move into the quarterfinals and bring her record at the majors to 83-17.

The world No. 1 has not yet dropped a set through four rounds, and her high level of play showed no signs of weakness against the 6-foot-tall Samsonova.

The No. 16 seed’s big game kept her toe-to-toe with Swiatek through much of the first set, giving fans in Arthur Ashe Stadium a peek into why she has been to this stage of a major twice before. But once Swiatek got a look at triple set point on Samsonova’s serve in the 10th game, she ran away with the opportunity and closed out the one-set lead.

“At the beginning I felt like we were playing men's style tennis, holding serve every game,” Swiatek said post-match. “But I knew if I kept pushing I would have chances to break her serve. In the second I just wanted to keep being focused and not let my mind drift off.”

By the start of the second set, Swiatek had settled into her service game and took a firm grip on the match, winning 13 of 14 first-serve points and 56 percent of return points. Two breaks of serve were all the Pole needed to shut down Samsonova’s game and seal the victory in the second after racing out to a 5-0 lead.

WHAT IT MEANS: The top seed’s win ensures she still has a chance to add to her WTA-leading season. Swiatek leads the WTA Tour with 57 match wins on the year after taking five titles, including her fourth Roland Garros crown, and an Olympic bronze medal.

Swiatek’s next opponent in New York is a familiar one, as she will square off against No. 6 seed Jessica Pegula in their third quarterfinal meeting at a Grand Slam. Previously, Swiatek defeated the American at this same stage en route to her 2022 Roland Garros and US Open titles. As they enter their 10th career meeting, the Pole owns a 6-3 advantage.

Wednesday’s match will be the pair's first meeting this year, and with the American playing some of her best tennis, Swiatek knows that she will need to keep her legs fresh and ready for what is sure to be a physical match.

"Jess is never easy to play," said the top seed. "She has a tricky game style so I have to be ready for longer rallies. She's a great player, so for sure it’s going to be a challenge."

MATCH POINT: Swiatek did not face a single break point in the match, and has only lost two of four break points the entire tournament.

usopen.org

That first round of this U.S. Open is starting to look and feel like an anomaly. 

She has dramatically improved her game (her backhand in particular) in the last few matches and gone back to relying on her strength which is her speed, defense and return all of which she is doing in a more controlled manner (I'm honestly getting shades of 2022). 

And it's making me so happy. You can actually see she's enjoying herself out there despite being tired (it being another long season and all).

It's like she's found that level she usually only finds on her favourite surface and the one she found at the end of the season last year starting in Bejing.  And it's an absolute joy to witness again. 

Pegula will certainly be her biggest test yet (I thought Samsonova would be but she was only able to bring it for parts of set 1). 

Given the form Pegula is in winning in Canada she certainly  won't be short on confidence. 

The question remains though whether she will feel some nerves trying to reach her first ever Grand Slam semi something she has never done before and has a bit of a hang up on.

But I know Iga won't be counting on that she'll play her game to the best of her ability. I know she'll leave it all out on the court on Wednesday and I can't wait!.

Jazda Iga, like your fave tv show character Ted Lasso we believe :)                                  

For the first time in her career, Iga Świątek has gone three consecutive matches without getting broken. And not only that, but did it without facing a single break point across the 2R, 3R, and 4R (25 games).


12 - Defeating Liudmila Samsonova, Iga Swiatek is one of only four players in the past four decades to achieve 12 straight Grand Slam match wins over WTA top 20 opponents along with Steffi Graf, Monica Seles and Serena Williams. Eminent.


83 - Among those to begin their career in the Open Era, only six have more wins from their first 100 GS matches than Iga Swiatek (83): Monica Seles, 93 Chris Evert, 90 Steffi Graf, 87 Martina Hingis & S. Williams, 86 V. Williams, 85 Company.

Iga Swiatek makes it 4 consecutive 2nd week's at U.S. Open

NEW YORK -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek eased past 25th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with a 6-4, 6-2 victory to book her spot in a fourth straight US Open Round of 16 on Saturday night.

And the 2022 US Open champion did it in style.

After earning an early break to lead 3-1 in the opening set, Swiatek struck her own version of the wicked backspinning winner that has been the signature hot shot of the opening week of the tournament. In response to a big first serve down the tee from Pavlyuchenkova, Swiatek lunged for a forehand squash return that floated in the air before handing just over the net.

Pavlyuchenkova's casual jog towards what looked like an easy put-away was quickly derailed by the spin on the ball, which took it right back over the net and out of her reach for a clean winner. Swiatek put her hands up to apologize for her stroke of luck and Pavlyuchenkova could only drop her head and tap the netcord in disbelief. Even chair umpire Julie Kjendlie let out a wry smile.

"I would be giving too much credit to myself if I said I had control over it," Swiatek said after the match, "but I guess in situations like that, you remember it's worth it to kind of reach for every ball even though you think you might not get it.

"It was mostly luck."

Swiatek improved her head-to-head record to 2-0 over Pavlyuchenkova with a performance that was equal parts gritty and dominant. Bidding to make her second Grand Slam fourth round of the season, Swiatek broke immediately in the first game and protected that lead under pressure to take the first set after 51 minutes.

Swiatek did not face a break point in the opening set, but Pavlyuchenkova was able to take three of the Pole's service games to 30-all. After pocketing the first set, Swiatek powered through the remainder of the match to score her third straight-set win of the tournament. She finished with 19 winners to nine unforced errors.

Swiatek will face No.16 seed Liudmila Samsonova next, a rematch of last fall's China Open final, which Swiatek won 6-2, 6-2.

 wtatennis.com

I'd say Iga is definitely feeling more comfortable with each match today was another example. Focused, calm and in control. 

And the defense skils she shows took me right back to 2022. 

Samsonova certainly qualifies as tricky especially when she serves well. 

But I think if Iga just plays her game like she has been the past few matches she'll get through with no issues. It also depends on which Samsonova shows up as she hasn't always been consistent this season.

Iga Swiatek breezes into 3rd round at U.S. Open

 

World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland cruised into the third round of the US Open on Thursday with a 6-0, 6-1 dismissal of Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

Swiatek, the 2022 US Open champion and a four-time Roland Garros titlist, needed just 65 minutes to power past 217th-ranked Shibahara in their first singles meeting.


"For sure I used yesterday to practice a little bit and get my rhythm," Swiatek said, leveling up on Thursday after a tricky Tuesday first-round win over Kamilla Rakhimova. "I felt like I can play in a much more solid way, and I was making for sure better decisions [today]."

Next up for Swiatek will be a third-round match against No.25 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who defeated 65th-ranked Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 5-7, 6-1, 6-2. Swiatek is 1-0 against Pavlyuchenkova, winning 6-0, 6-0 at 2023 Rome.

19: With the win, Swiatek has made her 19th straight Grand Slam third round appearance. She is the fifth player in the Open Era to reach the Round of 32 in 19 or more consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, joining Martina Navratilova, Stefanie Graf, Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez.

20: Swiatek is now a commanding 20-2 in Grand Slam second-round matches in her career. Her only two losses in the second round of majors were to Camila Giorgi at the 2019 Australian Open and Anastasija Sevastova at the 2019 US Open.

20-0: Swiatek is also a perfect 20-0 against players ranked outside of the Top 100 at Grand Slam events, with eight of those wins coming at the US Open. The 23-year-old is also 7-0 against qualifiers at Grand Slam events (14-0 in sets).

wtatennis.com

Another round, another chance to do better. 

And better she did.

Great serving and a clean clinical performance. 6 unforced vs 41 in round 1. It's like night and day. 

As Iga herself mentioned she was definitely in the zone today.

Pavlachenkova will be another step up, but we believe.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek posts her 80th Grand Slam match win at U.S. Open

 The pink cap is back :)

No.1 seed Iga Swiatek survived a gritty challenge from lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova in the first round of the US Open, saving triple set point in the second-set tiebreak before advancing 6-4, 7-6(6) in 1 hour and 52 minutes.

Early on, the first-time encounter threatened to be a one-sided rout after Swiatek raced out to a 4-0 lead for the loss of just three points. But thereafter Rakhimova, who took Aryna Sabalenka to three sets in Washington four weeks ago, pushed the Pole hard for the rest of the match. Swiatek was unable to close out the World No.104 serving at 5-4 in the second set, and ultimately needed to squeak past in a tiebreak that went down to the wire.

This fortnight, Swiatek is bidding to add a second US Open crown to her 2022 title. Her 21st victory in 22 career Grand Slam first-round matches sets up a second-round clash with qualifier Ena Shibahara, the former doubles No.4 who has turned her focus to singles this year. The Japanese World No.217 claimed a marathon 6-3, 4-6, 7-6[6] contest over Daria Saville in 3 hours and 17 minutes, coming from 2-0 down in the third set for a victorious Grand Slam singles debut.

What did Rakhimova do to push Swiatek so hard?

Rakhimova and Swiatek had never previously played at any level, but they would have been familiar with each other: both born in 2001, the pair grew up together throughout the various junior levels. In 2015, they were both semifinalists at Les Petits As, the most prestigious U14 tournament on the calendar.

Once Rakhimova settled after her slow start, she was able to drag Swiatek into a series of extended rallies due to superb anticipation and defense. Her vulnerability was that she was less able to finish them off on her own terms -- Rakhimova only struck nine winners to Swiatek's 30. However, Swiatek's inability to play her preferred quick, aggressive points was a reason behind her tally of 41 unforced errors.

"She's not playing too fast, which kind of makes you want to speed up," said Swiatek afterwards. "But you can't do that in these conditions sometimes because it's too risky. So I guess I feel like I made a lot of mistakes, because sometimes she was kind of provoking it."

In the second set, Rakhimova also demonstrated a high level on serve. In the first set, it had been attackable, and she had only won 60% of the points behind her first delivery -- a number that went up to 73% in the second set. Despite going down an early break, Rakhimova posted a sequence of routine holds to put herself in a position to take advantage of Swiatek's dip when serving for the match.

Rakhimova may not have racked up the winners, but she made them count when she did. A drop shot-lob combination was the best point of the first set, and a laser-like backhand down the line opened the door for the break back for 5-5 in the second set.

What were the keys to Swiatek getting over the line?

Amidst her error tally, Swiatek did find patches of superb tennis. Her own serve was frequently unplayable, and improved as the match went on: she won 75% of the points behind her first delivery in the second set compared to 64% in the first.

Having had her 4-0 lead cut to 5-4 in the opener, Swiatek responded with an authoritative service game, including two aces, to close out the set. However, after breaking for 2-1 in the second set, Swiatek uncharacteristically did little to press home her advantage on return -- and even more surprisingly, threw in a series of errant forehands when serving for the match.

In the tiebreak, strong play from Swiatek saved the first two set points -- but closing out the match required Rakhimova's own forehand to go astray in the closing few points.

Well this was far from a tidy performance from Iga 

I'm going to chuck it up to this being her first  match and first up on Arthur Ashe. And Iga still getting used to the conditions here vs Cincinnati. The 2nd serve really saved Iga in this match.  

Hopefully she'll get into a better rhythm with every match she plays here and the unforced errors will be a thing of the past.     

Another round is another chance to do better. 

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek falls short at semi final stage once more in Cincinnati

 

Wasn't to be for Iga today, seemed a bit tired and low energy after the previous days battle with Andreeva. 

2nd serve really wasn't on point and kept getting attacked by Sabalenka (usually it is quite reliable). 

These courts/conditions continue not to favor Iga's game, but she still had a fantastic week with some great matches that give her plenty of match practice (which is what she was looking for) and an idea of what to work on to prepare for NYC.  

Going from grass to clay to hard court is always a tough transition. 

Sabalenka didn't have to do that she withdrew from Wimbledon and didn't play the Olympics so only concentrated on training on one surface that's a huge advantage.  I'm confident that with a bit more matches and training Iga too will find her rhythm.

The fight she showed at the very end saving 9 match points and almost turning it around in the 2nd set gives me confidence that she's going to work things out match by match.

A  6/3 6/3 score line is not bad considering this tournament has never yielded Iga a high winning percentage. 

The fact she made back to back semis is a triumph in itself. Her consistency at WTA 1000s whether she wins or loses them is something else.

I think an extra few days rest now before getting back to training will do her a world of good.

On to the big apple, Jazda!

Iga Swiatek fights off a spirited younger opponent to make back to back semis in Cincy

World No.1 Iga Swiatek will play World No.3 Arnya Sabalenka in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open after the Grand Slam champions both won their quarterfinal matches in contrasting fashion on Saturday.

Swiatek advanced to the final four at the Lindner Family Tennis Center for the second year in a row after coming from behind to defeat 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva in Saturday's first quarterfinal, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, before Sabalenka eased to a 6-3, 6-2 win over Liudmila Samsonova to set the 12th installment of her and Swiatek's all-time rivalry.

Swiatek has won eight of her 11 prior matches against Sabalenka, including both matches this year in the finals of Madrid and Rome. They last played on hard courts in the semifinals of the WTA Finals -- also won by Swiatek -- but haven't played at a hard-court tournament that isn't the season-ending championships since they dueled in the semifinals of the 2022 US Open, which Swiatek also won from a set down.

Swiatek denies Andreeva another milestone

The fourth player younger than 18 to ever reach a WTA 1000-level quarterfinal since the tournament tier debuted in 2009, Andreeva raced out of the gates quickly in her first-ever meeting with the World No.1 -- showing no nerves nor frustration in windy conditions. She broke serve at 1-1 and kept her lead throughout the first set, saving two break points in both the sixth game and 10th game.

Forced to raise her level, Swiatek responded: She broke in Andreeva's first service game of the second set, and didn't face a break point herself until the match's final game. Given an opportunity to level the final set at 6-6 and force a winner-take-all tiebreak, Andreeva's backhand return missed well long -- and Swiatek wrapped up the 2-hour, 30-minute win two points later.

Swiatek is now 10-0 in quarterfinal matches in 2024 -- and the win was her 30th at a WTA 1000 this season. Only Serena Williams (36, 2013) has won more matches at that level in a single season in the last 15 years.

wtatennis.com


I said this match was going to be interesting and it certainly was that!. 

Mirra Andreeva came out swinging and really made Iga work for it in fairly hot conditions first up on center court. 

She was serving very well (had quite a few aces) constantly putting pressure on Iga to hold. 

She definitely felt zero intimidation and played completely free as a lot of first time opponents of Iga's tend to do.

I knew Mirrra was probably going to make it competitive based on how well she has been playing in Cincy but I was still surprised by just how high a level she showed. She did have a slight wobble towards the end and in really important moments that Iga was able to thankfully take advantage of. 

Iga for her part didn't have her best tennis today and really had to grit out this win. It was another one of those fun battles that her fans won't soon forget this season. 

Really proud of how she held it together for 2 and a half hours despite a lot of frustration throughout. 

Cincy and Canada are her worst tournaments win percentage wise so I'd love it if she could turn at least one of them around. 

Today she fought and found a way and in tennis that's all that matters in the end. 

Next up it'll be a 12th meeting with Sabalenka been a while since they have met on a hard court. 

Lot of people are giving Aryna the edge due to the fast court conditions, but I'm not convinced. Aryna can still be quite error prone when push comes to shove and she's put under a lot of pressure with a close score line.

My hope is that they're both able to put on a good show. 

This tournament needs at least one really memorable match because so far there have been glimpses but none that really make you sit up and take notice.  

Win or lose these kind of tests are great preparation for the U.S. Open.

Jazda Iga!

Give it your all you've got nothing to lose at this point go for it!.