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Post by Admin on Oct 10, 2020 19:06:51 GMT
Iga Swiatek wasn’t going to be denied. Throughout the entire French Open, Swiatek imposed her will on opponents, never losing a set. She carried that streak into Saturday’s final, besting Sofia Kenin in two sets to win the French Open. Swiatek, 19, got off to a strong start, taking a 2-0 lead in the first set. Kenin charged back, eventually evening the set 3-3, but Swiatek seemed to regain her composure and won the first set 6-4. Swiatek came out strong in the second set, but was tested early as Kenin took an off-court medical timeout to address her injured thigh. The break in action didn’t seem to impact Swiatek, who won the next three games to make it 5-1. With history on the line, Swiatek came through. The win will have quite the financial impact on Swiatek’s career. Coming into the French Open, she had a career earnings of $1.1 million. The prize money for winning the French Open is $1.9 million. Following the match, Swiatek described the win as “overwhelming,” according to The Guardian. “I don’t know what’s going on, so. I’m so happy. I’m so glad that my family is here finally. I don’t know, it’s so overwhelming for me. It’s crazy. Two years ago, I won junior Grand Slam and now I’m here. It feels like such a short time so I’m just overwhelmed, but thank you all for cheering. It was an amazing final.” Though Swiatek’s run came as a surprise to some, she had some strong allies in her corner. Naomi Osaka — who interviewed Swiatek in May — tweeted out support for her friend. Osaka said she felt tense watching Swiatek attempt to win the French Open.
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2020 6:09:19 GMT
http://instagram.com/p/CGLLMEtgDyz Iga Swiatek has made her way to the Roland Garros final without the loss of set so the least everyone can do is pronounce her name properly. The 19-year-old Pole settled the matter once and for all. http://instagram.com/p/CGDvy9FF0WH Swiatek has been incredibly impressive all fortnight long with laser-like focus on court while sharing her charming personality off of it. She's also been busy on the doubles court with a run to the semifinals. She and partner Nicole Melichar lost on Friday to Desirae Krawczyk and Alexa Guarachi. http://instagram.com/p/CGF2Vo2AYLs
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Post by Admin on Oct 11, 2020 21:04:47 GMT
After Iga Swiatek established herself as the first Polish tennis player ever to capture a major singles title by sweeping aside Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in the French Open final, the immensely poised 19-year-old was understandably hard pressed to explain a fortnight that she will surely remember for the rest of her life. Not only did Swiatek comprehensively take apart the Australian Open victor in the title round contest, but that was simply the last chapter in a stirring first ever title run on the WTA Tour. Across seven matches, she dropped no sets and was never extended beyond 6-4, conceded only 28 games, and knocked out two of the top four seeds.
Asked by 2015 Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli of France to put her triumph into perspective, Swiatek said, “I think I was just mentally consistent. I just wanted to play aggressive as I did in the previous rounds. I felt like today was stressful for me. I don’t actually know what made the difference.”
The difference was more apparent to observers who witnessed a great young champion securing the first WTA Tour title of her career with almost total self assurance and remarkable maturity.
“It is just crazy,” she would say afterwards. “It is overwhelming. Two years ago I was winning junior Grand Slam titles [most notably at Wimbledon] and right now I am here. It feels like such a short time.”
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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2020 5:39:27 GMT
Swiatek came out of the blocks on the most auspicious occasion of her career and performed with the same verve, tenacity and stability she had demonstrated all tournament long. Here was Kenin in her second major final, and some in the cognoscenti believed her experience might carry the day. Kenin was striving to become the seventh American woman to be victorious in the singles at Roland Garros, hoping to join the likes of Serena Williams, seven time champion Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and Billie Jean King.
This was the first time two female players 21 years old and younger had clashed in a Grand Slam tournament final since Maria Sharapova ousted Ana Ivanovic to take the 2008 Australian Open crown. On paper, the No. 4 seed Kenin was the favorite. But to those who had been following the swift ascent of the No. 54 ranked Swiatek, there were many who thoroughly liked her chances.
As if to underline the fact that she was ready to handle the pressure and able to release her finest tennis, Swiatek swiftly asserted her authority. She held at love in the opening game, locating her serve impeccably to set up a forehand down the line winner. Finding excellent length off the backhand, the Polish competitor broke at 30 for 2-0 and held at 15 for 3-0—opening that game with a winning drop shot, closing it with a deep first serve eliciting an errant return from the 21-year-old American. Swiatek had won 12 of 15 points.
To 3-0 went Swiatek in a hurry, but Kenin was slowly finding her range and ready to impose herself. Buoyed by an ace and some stinging shots off her two-hander, Kenin held at 30 for 1-3, broke at 15 for 2-3, and held at 30 for 3–3. Now she had collected 12 of 17 points to gain level ground. Exhilarated by that comeback, spurring herself on with characteristic intensity, Kenin screamed “Come On!”
Yet Swiatek dealt with the shifting momentum admirably. After double faulting for 30-30 in the crucial seventh game and twice being stretched to deuce, she produced a first rate drop shot off the backhand to earn a third game point and advanced to 4-3 when Kenin pressed off the forehand and sent it long.
Kenin led 40-30 in the eighth game but pulled a forehand wide under duress. She garnered a second game point and drew Swiatek in with a drop shot. Swiatek’s response was to send a forehand down the line with good depth to set up a backhand drop volley winner. The 19-year-old finally got the break for 5-3 after five deuces, coaxing a backhand error from Kenin.
When Swiatek served for the set in the ninth game, she double faulted to trail 15-30 but still advanced to set point at 40-30, only to apprehensively net a backhand approach. Kenin broke back with a sparkling backhand crosscourt winner. She had once more overcome a daunting deficit and seemed to be raising her game at just the right time.
But Swiatek was unflustered. Coming into the final, she had broken serve in 32 of 46 games and nearly 70% of the time against her six adversaries. Now she set out to break Kenin at a crucial moment with her opponent determined to make it back to 5-5. Kenin took the first point of that game but Swiatek swept four in a row from that juncture, sealing the set with sound execution and ingenuity, claiming the last point by recovering with a sliced lob off the forehand. Kenin was forced to retreat to the baseline and eventually faltered off the backhand.
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Post by Admin on Oct 12, 2020 23:18:18 GMT
2020 Roland Garros champion Iga Swiatek joins the WTA Insider Podcast after her stunning run to her maiden major title in Paris. The 19-year-old became the youngest woman since Monica Seles to win Roland Garros on Saturday, defeating Sofia Kenin, 6-4, 6-1, and became the first player from Poland to become a Grand Slam singles champion. Swiatek won all 14 sets she played and dropped just 28 games over seven matches, the most dominant run in Paris since Stefanie Graf's 1988 run to the title, which saw the German legend lose just 20 games. As Swiatek explains, this was a total team effort in Paris. From the tactical plans put together by her coach Piotr Sierzputowski, to the mental work she's done with sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz, to Swiatek's own flawless execution, hear how Team Swiatek threw down one of the most dominant runs to a major title in modern tennis history. WTA Insider: What was going on through your mind on match point? Swiatek: Basically, during match point I kinda lost my focus for the first time during this tournament because I knew I was really close to winning this match and being a champion. I kinda lost my focus right before the point but I tried to come back and I did everything as I was doing in the previous matches because it worked. I knew that winning or losing was just going to be the effect. So I kept working hard and focusing on the smallest things that are going to lead me to victory. "It's easy to say to focus on your legs or the movement or the tactics, but I think the easy solutions are the best solutions. I've done what my team told me to do. I trusted them for the whole tournament." WTA Insider: You said throughout the tournament that you were able to keep your focus throughout the fortnight by focusing on the small things and not getting caught up in the bigger picture. Now that it's done, has it hit you? Swiatek: Actually no, it hasn't yet. I think it's going to hit me in a few days. It hit me a little bit yesterday in the evening because I felt I was really close, but Sofia is playing a really great tournament and it's going to be so tough. Everything is new for me so I felt like there's a chance that I won't be able to handle it. But I talked to Daria about it and we worked that through. We came back to basics and we came back to doing the things I've done before. It's easy to say to focus on your legs or the movement or the tactics, but I think the easy solutions are the best solutions. I've done what my team told me to do. I trusted them for the whole tournament. Because sometimes when Daria was talking about things like that I thought, oh it's too easy, I'm not going to win a Grand Slam just thinking about my legs. But I've done that. So it's working.
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