Incredible Iga Swiatek continued her dominant run in 2022 and remained perfect in Grand Slam finals as she beat No.5 Ons Jabeur in the US Open 2022 final on Arthur Ashe Stadium to lift her third career Grand Slam trophy. The 21-year-old from Poland, who is a two-time French Open champion, beat the 2021 Wimbledon runners-up 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the final to become only the fourth active women's singles player on tour to have three or more majors after Venus Williams (7), Naomi Osaka (4) and Angelique Kerber (3).
Swiatek showed complete and utter dominance in the opening set, going 3-0 up in just eight minutes, before wrapping it up in quick fashion with a 6-2 win, although she was broke once. The world no.1 managed to get 90 per cent of her first serves in and was top-notch with her return game as well. Jabeur had won 83 per cent of her first serve points in her semi-final against Caroline Garcia, but on Saturday, Swiatek secured 9 of the 11 return points against the Tunisian's first serve.
The second set started off in similar fashion with Swiatek taking a 3-0 lead with the world no.5 looking completely off her rhythm, failing to get a return in play and throw her racquet wildly. In her last nine finals on the tour, no player managed to take more than four games in the second set against Swiatek, let alone force a decider. And the script seemed to remain true even in New York, but Jabeur was not going down without a fight.
The narrative changed in quick time as the Tunisian roared back to earn two breaks and level it at 4-4. Swiatek however staved off a third consecutive break on her serve to hold for 5-4 before Jabeur saved a championship point serving for 6-5 to force a tie-breaker.
The Pole eventually fended off a fierce comeback from the 28-year-old in the tie-breaker to become the first woman to win two majors in the same year since Kerber in 2016. Swiatek had previously beaten Coco Gauff in straight sets in the French Open final earlier this year.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Hindustan Times.
