ROME -- No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek took the scenic route into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia third round, surviving a valiant comeback from Caty McNally to win 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 in 2 hours, 43 minutes.
At 6-1, 3-1, the three-time Rome champion Swiatek appeared to be cruising through her opener. Her topspin was jumping off the court, she was striking a series of forehand winners, and she was breaking down McNally’s drive backhand in extended rallies. But she squandered three break points for a 4-1 lead with cheap unforced errors, and from that point on the match turned into a battle.
"For sure, not an easy first match," Swiatek said in her press conference. "The conditions were kind of heavy. The ball was flying slow. So we had many long rallies, many moments where you could create a lot on the court."
McNally -- the only player to win a set from Swiatek at Wimbledon last year -- had never beaten the Polish star at pro level. But she did have a memorable victory over Swiatek on clay -- a 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 comeback in the 2018 Roland Garros junior event. As McNally began to impose her touch on the match, she threatened a similar turnaround.
Swiatek served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set and reached 30-30 both times, only to lapse into errors, getting broken on backhands that sailed well over the baseline on each occasion. Afterwards, she vowed that those would be learning experiences.
"Honestly, I want to watch this game and see if there's something that I did wrong," she said when asked about her attempts to serve out the win. "I'm not sure even what I did ... I don't exactly remember what happened in that game. But I will watch the match. I'll watch it and I'll see."
As her accuracy wavered, McNally grew more effective at drawing mistakes from Swiatek with her defense. McNally’s slice had little impact through the first set and a half, but her ability to reset points with it became a key factor in turning the second set.
In the third set, it nearly unraveled again for Swiatek. She broke McNally for 3-1, but missed a chance to extend the lead to 4-1 with a double fault, then handed the break straight back with a string of errors.
But this time, Swiatek regained her focus. As McNally held a point to level at 4-4, Swiatek swatted away a return to deny her. Two dialed-in clean winners followed, and then the break for 5-3. There would be no repeat of her second-set travails. Solid offensive patterns brought Swiatek to match point, and she converted as McNally sent a forehand just wide.
"I was really happy with the first set, then I made some mistakes," said Swaitek. "Also Caty, I felt like she was playing one more ball in, really grinding in defense. I needed to be patient. I'm happy at the end of the match I was solid and I used the right balls to attack, but was also patient enough to stay in the rally."
Swiatek will next face either No. 28 seed Emma Navarro or home hope Elisabetta Cocciaretto
wtatennis.com
Well this match turned into an unnecessary rollercoaster after a very straight forward first set.
Should have won it in straights after serving for it twice. I swear it's all tied to confidence at this point, she has lost that ruthlessness she was so good at.
But the rest of her game is still there for her on clay.
Just needs the belief back.
And more matches, sadly she hasn't had as many matches on clay as usual with losing early in Stuttgart and withdrawing from Madrid.
She's had a total of 5 matches compared to others who have had double that.
I think with every match things will get better. I can already see a lot of the Iga of old with the new coach at the helm.
Proud of the way Iga got her focus back after losing the first.
Iga from earlier this year probably would have still been thinking about the mistakes and lost opportunities.
And would have gotten frustrated and lost.
While I'm still concerned about her inability to close things out straightforwardly, it's definitely something that will come with more match play.
I'm taking a lot of positives from this one and treating this match as McNally playing Iga into some form.
After all last time they played 3 sets against each other Iga won Wimbledon.
Next match should be a lot easier in terms of comfort.
Jazda!.
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