She resists everything. Far from the steamroller mode of Roland-Garros, Iga Swiatek must fight as much once morest herself as once morest her opponents in this US Open, but she will be there on Saturday evening to play in her third Grand Slam final, the first away from the Parisian clay, to challenge Ons Jabeur. Thursday evening, in the second semi-final, the Pole ended up finding the way out to defeat Aryna Sabalenka (3-6, 6-1, 6-4) in two hours and eleven minutes.
It was not easy, not much has been since the start of the New York fortnight for her, but Swiatek still has some great resources. This final, she went to get it very far. In a match marked by a large number of breaks (twelve in total, seven for the Pole, five in favor of the Belarusian) due to the extreme fragility of the two players on their second ball (Swiatek finished with 29% and Sabalenka… 24%), it was all in the mind. And if the magic of last spring only comes out sparingly from her racket, the double winner of Roland-Garros has shown great solidity in “money time”.
US Open
Swiatek ensures the essential
YESTERDAY AT 01:11
Stunning Swiatek: the summary of his semi-final once morest Sabalenka
A fiery final
Aryna Sabalenka will be able to harbor regrets. The great miracle of the tournament, which had been led 6-2, 5-1 and had saved two match points once morest Kaia Kanepi in the second round, has long led the debates. She first took the lead by winning the first set then, following drinking the cup in the second, put enormous pressure on her opponent at the start of the last act. An entry break to lead 2-0 and a second while Swiatek had picked up. At 4-2 in her favor, the Belarusian was two games and two fingers away from her first major final following two failures in the semi-finals last year at Wimbledon and the US Open. But she didn’t hold out.
Already under pressure on her previous service game, she cracked in the eighth game, conceding the break to an Iga Swiatek ready to pounce on her prey. At 5-4 in her favour, the world number one delivered the coup de grace, well helped by the catastrophic start of Sabalenka (a forehand fault then a double fault). At 0-40, she saved a match point, but not two. This end of the match was finally quite revealing of what separates the two young women today.
Reaching the final of a Grand Slam tournament without appearing at the top of your game is in some ways a sign of greatness. Faced with the one who will be her runner-up next Monday in the WTA rankings, which gives this US Open final an ideal character, on paper at least, Iga Swiatek will still have to raise her level of play if she wants to extend her reign. beyond Roland-Garros and thus put a little more women’s tennis under his thumb. But following all, we might say the same thing before her quarter-final once morest Jessica Pegula… This final has a mouthful, in any case.
Every Swiatek
Credit: Getty Images
US Open
Sabalenka finds the last four
YESTERDAY AT 5:37 PM
US Open
Formidable without being overwhelming: Swiatek, the return of quiet strength
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