No.1 seed Iga Swiatek needed only 74 minutes to dispatch 2017 champion Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 at the US Open, booking her place in the last 32 for a third consecutive year.
Swiatek is adapting to the tennis balls: Ahead of the US Open, Swiatek's discomfort with the lighter US Open balls became a significant narrative -- particularly given her third-round losses in both Toronto and Cincinnati to Beatriz Haddad Maia and Madison Keys respectively.
In Cincinnati, Swiatek did manage to beat Stephens 6-4, 7-5 in the second round, though, and reprised the result in New York with an even more straightforward score line.
One of her complaints regarding the balls was that her groundstrokes tended to fly a bit more than usual, and indeed her 17 unforced errors were perhaps more than the World No.1 would have liked. But she also struck 14 winners, and the intensity of her footwork to ensure she was in the right position to unleash her forehand was noticeable.
"For sure I'm closer to accepting [the balls] than on two previous tournaments, so that's pretty nice," Swiatek had said after her first-round win over Jasmine Paolini.
Swiatek's serve was also a key. She lost only seven points behind her first delivery and dropped serve just once -- an anomalous loose third game of the match when she was already up a break. Serving for the match, she rained down four consecutive service winners to seal victory.
Stephens still searching for consistency: Former World No.3 Stephens has had a couple impressive highlights in 2022: her seventh career title in Guadalajara in February, and her seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros.
But outside of those two tournaments, she has won only four matches. Her overall record is 13-14, and her ranking is now No.51. Two weeks ago, she pushed Swiatek to two tight sets.
At Flushing Meadows, though, she committed 18 unforced errors to only seven winners; Stephens found success going toe-to-toe with Swiatek in longer baseline exchanges, but was too often unable to extend the points that far to begin with.
Swiatek's draw is opening up: A number of dangerous seeds lurked in Swiatek's section of the draw -- particularly No.16 Jelena Ostapenko, whom she is 0-3 against, and No.28 Ekaterina Alexandrova, who defeated Swiatek 6-4, 6-2 at the 2021 Gippsland Trophy in their only previous meeting.
But Ostapenko fell in the first round to surging 19-year-old Zheng Qinwen. Swiatek's next opponent will not be Alexandrova, but Lauren Davis, who pulled off an impressive comeback to win 0-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5). The greatest danger in Swiatek's bid to make a first US Open quarterfinal could be Zheng, the only player to win a set from her during her Roland Garros title run.
Sloane really didn't play her best, but a win is a win, and for Iga who's still searching for her form and confidence (all the while figuring out the tennis ball issue), every win is a good one.
Agree with the article I think Zheng will be Iga's biggest obstacle (if she gets there)
On to the next one Iga. Jazda!
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