WHAT HAPPENED: 2022 US Open champion Iga Swiatek was not at her best, but she managed to rally past No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya in Round 3, 7-6(2), 6-4.
Kalinskaya built a 5-1 lead in the first set—thanks, in part, to Swiatek’s 15 unforced errors and the No. 2 seed only landing 41% of her first serves.
“I didn't notice that my service percentage was low,” said Swiatek, who finished with a 43% make rate. “Sometimes I felt like I was maybe going too much for it, maybe risking it in terms of picking the spots. So I guess I tried to work on that, and on one hand played more safe, but on the other hand, you can't do that because your opponent will use it.”
Leading 5-2, Kalinskaya had four set points. But she double faulted on two of them, enabling Swiatek to go on a tear.
Kalinskaya also double faulted away the 10th game to let Swiatek tie the set 5-all. The players traded breaks in the next two games, forcing a tiebreak. When Swiatek went up 5-0, Kalinskaya finally lost her cool, smashed her racket and kept playing. Swiatek punctuated the set, 7-2, by winning a seven-shot rally.
The pivotal game in the second set was the ninth. At 4-all, Kalinskaya allowed Swiatek a break point with her 11th double fault of the match. Swiatek seized the moment, went up 5-4, and served (successfully) for the match.
Asked what she was thinking while trailing 5-1, Swiatek said on-court: “I don't know. Honestly, Anna was playing great. She was playing all these risky balls in like she once did against me in Dubai.
"I just wanted to make a little bit less mistakes. I just need to be more solid. I just focused on simple things. She started making a bit more mistakes and it got, for sure, tight. I already felt like I had nothing to lose because I was losing pretty bad. At the end, I just went for it, because what more can I do?”
She later added in press: "It's easy to panic, but I didnt."
WHAT IT MEANS: Swiatek will now face No. 13 Ekaterina Alexandrova in Round 4. Swiatek has won four of their previous six meetings, but they’re tied 2-2 on hard courts.
Win or lose, Alexandrova has already achieved her deepest run at the US Open by making the fourth round in her ninth appearance at age 30.
MATCH POINT: Swiatek is trying to be the first woman since Serena Williams in 2012 to win Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year. If successful in New York, she would also claim her seventh major title.
