Swiatek won that match 6-3, 6-2, as well as their first pro encounter this February in the second round of the Gippsland Trophy 2-6, 6-2, 6-1. Here, playing her first pro match as a defending champion and celebrating her 20th birthday, she showed no sign of being affected by either the moment or her No.101-ranked opponent, tallying 22 winners to 24 unforced errors.
"You never know what's going to happen when you're coming out on a court as a defending champion," Swiatek said. "I've never been in a situation like that. I'm really glad I could handle that pretty well and just play tennis, play a normal match without having in the back of my mind that I'm defending the title."
Indeed, Swiatek picked up where she had left off two weeks ago in Rome. She had captured that title with an eviscerating performance in the final, whitewashing Karolina Pliskova 6-0, 6-0.
In a 23-minute first set against Juvan, everything Swiatek touched continued to turn to gold. She came out on top of cat-and-mouse net exchanges, flicked reflex dropshot winners off full-power returns and hammered heavy forehands beyond Juvan's reach.
Swiatek's winning streak of games reached 20 before Juvan finally held in the second set. From there, the Slovenian turned a one-sided rout into an absorbing contest, methodically working her way back into the match by adjusting her tactics and execution.
Having hit 12 unforced errors but no winners in the first set, Juvan began to find success by repeatedly deploying a well-disguised dropshot - and sometimes a fake dropshot that drew Swiatek forwards before Juvan pushed the ball deep instead.
The 20-year-old's canny play very nearly forced a third set. Having broken back to erase a 1-3 deficit, Juvan held two break points at 5-5, and missed a pass by inches on the second. Serving to stay in the match, she staved off the first three match points she faced with bold play.
But Swiatek, sensing victory, continued to pile on the pressure. A final banger of a backhand on her fourth match point was too much for Juvan to handle and sealed Swiatek's seventh win in a row.
Up next for Swiatek will be Rebecca Peterson, who came from a set and 2-5 down to beat Shelby Rogers 6-7(3), 7-6(8), 6-2 in exactly three hours. The Swede saved three match points in the second-set tiebreak.
That result means Swiatek will avoid the dangerous Rogers, who owns five Top 20 wins in the past year alone, and instead play Peterson, who has just two in her career to date.
20 year old iga Swiatek wrote a message on the camera lens after the match saying she feels old
Which just made me feel ancient.
Congrats to Iga on another impressive win and Happy Birthday!
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