Round 3: Iga Swiatek vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Arthur Ashe Stadium – Night Session – First Match, 7 p.m.
- No. 1 women’s seed Iga Swiatek faces former world No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in Saturday’s Arthur Ashe Stadium night session, with both women seeking to advance to the US Open fourth round.
- So far at this tournament, Swiatek and Pavlyuchenkova have each had one straightforward match, and one tighter one. Swiatek saved multiple set points in her 6-4, 7-6(6) Round 1 win over Kamilla Rakhimova, and cruised 6-0, 6-1 over Ena Shibahara in Round 2. Pavlyuchenkova, the No. 25 seed, dropped just two games in her Round 1 defeat of Aussie wild card Taylah Preston before coming from a set down to beat Italian Elisabetta Cocciaretto 5-7, 6-1, 6-2.
- Swiatek, who lifted the 2022 US Open women’s singles trophy, won the pair’s only prior encounter with a 6-0, 6-0 effort in Rome last season. The Pole, who has held the No. 1 ranking for 118 weeks, has reached the Round of 16 or better at Flushing Meadows every year since 2021. In her 15 previous US Opens, Pavlyuchenkova’s best results were fourth-round appearances in 2010 and 2021.
- “Well, for sure last year I felt I had many things to defend, like world No. 1 position, all my points, and also the title itself. I felt like I had a lot of baggage on my shoulders. This year it's a little bit different,” Swiatek said on the eve of the 2024 US Open. “This year I'm just trying to focus on what should I do tennis-wise to play the best game possible. My expectations are not so high compared to last year. So I'm going to try to focus on getting everything step by step and not put too much baggage on my shoulders.”
- Though Pavlyuchenkova achieved her greatest Grand Slam tournament success by finaling at Roland Garros in 2021, she has reached six other major quarterfinals: at the 2011 French Open; 2011 US Open; 2016 Wimbledon; and 2017, 2019, and 2020 Australian Opens. In addition, Pavlyuchenkova earned Olympic gold in mixed doubles at the Tokyo 2020 Games alongside compatriot Andrey Rublev.
