21-year-old Iga Swiatek showed why she is the most dominant force in women’s tennis today by dispatching a gutsy challenge from Ons Jabeur to claim her third career Grand Slam win at the US Open in New York on Saturday night.
It took the Polish star just under two hours to claim what was the first major hard-court title of her career after two previous victories on clay at the French Open (2022 and 2020) with a 6-2, 7 win. -6 (5) against the Tunisian, who was playing her second consecutive Grand Slam final after losing to Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon several weeks ago.
Swiatek’s win can be seen as a changing of the guard at the top of the sport as the win cements her as the first player to win seven titles in a single season since Serena Williams achieved the same feat in 2014.
Williams finished her record run earlier in the same tournament.
Swiatek played like the best player in the world. She took an early lead when Jabeur, seeking to become the first African and Arab woman to win a major title, struggled to gain ground, earning just two points from the first three games.
Jabeur, however, showed some challenge in snatching up some clean game winners, but Swiatek’s impressive accuracy kept her locked in and rarely gave her a chance to build momentum to benefit from the variety of clean shots and precise counter-attacks until the end that had defined her career.
After a dominant first set, Swiatek took a 3-0 lead in the second and the result seemed like a mere formality, but Jabeur, who will rise to second in the standings after the event, battled back valiantly for 4-4 but the comeback it turned out to be little more than a delay of the inevitable.
Despite losing a match point at 5-6, Swiatek saw off victory at home in the second set tie break.
“I wasn’t sure if I was at the level to win a Grand Slam, especially at the US Open where the surface is so fast,” she said afterwards.
“It is also like a confirmation for me that [the] The sky is the limit.”
“Now. I have to settle for what is happening right now. I will see how I will react. Because also winning the US Open is different from winning a Slam in Europe or Australia because I don’t know how popularity is going to change, if it is going to change. For now I will watch and learn.”
Meanwhile, Jabeur paid tribute to her opponent and suggested that a new standard has been set in women’s tennis.
“It really has set the bar very high. It’s great for our sport.”, said the Tunisian. “I’ll keep doing my thing and hope to catch her.”