World No. 1 Iga Swiatek admits she entered the US Open with doubts in her mind as she wasn’t sure if she would be able to make a run at Flushing Meadows.Ā
Leading up to the US Open, Swiatek suffered shock round-of-16 exits in Toronto and Cincinnati.Ā
Swiatek wasn’t impressive leading up to the US Open and there were real concerns regarding her game and form.Ā
But Swiatek has found her game at Flushing Meadows as she has been through to the semifinal at the tournament.Ā
“Looking logically at the last tournaments, I just didn’t know if this one was going to be possible for me to be consistent and to win so many matches in a row. But I feel like I’ve been playing better and better every week since the start of this swing,” Swiatek said, per WTA insider.
Swiatek: “Looking logically at the last tournaments, I just didn’t know if this one was going to be possible for me to be consistent and to win so many matches in a row.
“But I feel like I’ve been playing better and better every week since the start of this swing.” #USOpen
ā WTA Insider (@WTA_insider) September 8, 2022
Swiatek on beating Jessica Pegula
On Wednesday, Swiatek defeated home favorite Pegula 6-3 7-6 (4) to make her first US Open semifinal.Ā
“I was able today to use my intuition a little bit more. I didn’t force myself to do every step right, all this technical stuff that I’ve been working on. It was more, like, natural today. I was able to focus on just more basic stuff. That was nice because I didn’t have thousands of things to improve in my head,” Swiatek reflected.
Pegula actually made a better start to the match as she broke Swiatek in the fifth game to open a 3-2 lead.
Down by a break, Swiatek responded in style as she earned back-to-back breaks and won four games in a row to win the first set.
In the second set, Swiatek was five times up by a break but Pegula five times recovered to force a tie-break.
In the tie-break, Swiatek was able to open a 4-2 lead, before realizing her first match point to complete a two-set win.