WHAT HAPPENED: You’ll forgive Iga Swiatek if she’s not really a New Yorker at heart. That whole city-that-never-sleeps motto? That’s not really her thing. The 21-year-old Pole, a rabid reader who tears through novels with the same fervor that she tears through opponents, says she prefers more pastoral settings, where she can relax and recover from the day-to-day grind of the professional tennis tour.
“It’s great for a few weeks, but I wouldn't choose it as a place to live because I'm more of a person that needs a calm place with the proper environment to rest,” said Swiatek. “New York is kind of always alive. That’s, for sure, not my place.”
She’s sure looked at home this fortnight in the frenzied borough that is Queens, where the world No. 1 was through to her third major semifinal of 2022 following the Australian Open and her second title run at Roland Garros. Now the attack-minded baseliner from Warsaw is headed for her first US Open final, a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 winner over No. 6 seed Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday night in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
It marked Swiatek’s fourth win over Sabalenka in 2022 and raised her WTA-best win total to 54 on the year. She will face Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in Saturday’s final.
“I was really happy that I was just able to play in such a solid way,” said Swiatek, the first Polish woman to reach the US Open final. “I had to keep my focus and overcome these obstacles throughout the tournament. I just continued to do that today.”
The match got off to a nervy start, with consecutive service breaks in the third, fourth and fifth games of the opening set. Sabalenka, contesting her third major semifinal, would finally consolidate, holding at love for a 4-2 advantage. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, 15-40, Swiatek couldn’t put away an approach, which her opponent promptly punched back to seal the set at the 40-minute mark. It snapped Swiatek’s streak of 16 straight sets against Top-10 opponents.
The top seed Swiatek still had some fight in her. She would reel off eight consecutive points to grab a 2-0 edge in the second set, and add another break for 4-1, now firmly in charge.
Sabalenka, the first woman since Serena Williams in 2019-20 to reach back-to-back semifinals in New York, was up a break at 2-0 and 4-2 in the final set, only to have Swiatek level the set at 4-all. Serving to stay in the set at 4-5, 15-40, Sabalenka smacked a backhand into the net to surrender the two-hour, 11-minute match. Swiatek won 16 of the last 20 points.
“I just tried to put the first serve in because she was really aggressive on the second serve. She was putting pressure on me,” said Swiatek, who won just six of 29 second-serve points. “Even though I lost the first game, I just had hope. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting too much from myself because Aryna is a great server and I wasn’t sure if I was going to break her back. But I feel like I played at another level.”
WHAT IT MEANS: Jabeur, the first African woman in the Open Era to reach the US Open final, is more than determined to take the title in New York after falling short in the Wimbledon final. She comes into Saturday’s showdown an even 2-2 against Swiatek. It won’t be their first encounter in a final. The two-time major champion Swiatek claimed their most recent meeting, 6-2, 6-2, earlier this year in the Rome title match.
“Iga never loses finals, so it's going to be very tough,” said Jabeur. “I know she struggled a little bit with the balls here, but I don't see her struggling much, to be honest. She's playing awesome. It's going to be a tough match. Definitely going for my revenge. I love playing on this surface, and I feel like I know exactly what to do against her.”
MATCH POINT: Swiatek has held the world No. 1 ranking since April 4.
