World No.1 Iga Swiatek had to pull off multiple comebacks on Thursday before storming into the US Open final for the first time in her career.
Swiatek fought back from a one-set down, as well as from a break down in the third set twice, before defeating No.6 seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in a match that lasted 2-hour, 11-minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Swiatek, who had never advanced past the quarterfinals of the US Open before this year, is currently playing in her second Grand Slam final of the year and the first off the red clay of the French Open.
In her career, Swiatek is 2-0 in Grand Slam finals. In 2020 and earlier this year, she won in Paris.
The World No. 1 struggled in the first set as Sabalenka converted her fourth break point of the 2-2 game with an error-inducing forehand to take a vital lead. Sabalenka gained a second break and the lead in the first set thanks to a solid volley.
However, Swiatek brought her power play in the second and third rounds to seal the final berth. Swiatek completed the match with two more winners and 12 fewer unforced errors than Sabalenka.
Swiatek will now meet No.5 seed Ons Jabeur who breezed past No.17 seed Caroline Garcia 6-1, 6-3 in the night's first semifinal in Saturday's women's singles final.
"I felt a huge difference between the first set and the last two," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference.
"I'm pretty happy that I got my level of energy up a little bit. Aryna made it difficult today, for sure. I felt like she was serving pretty solid. It was hard to come back in the third, but I'm pretty happy that I did," she added.
"I feel like Aryna served pretty well today, better than on our other matches. [Losing the first two games of the third set] kind of helped me to get back on the ground and realize I still have a lot of expectations even though the second set was pretty dominant," Swiatek said.
"I just went all in, you know. This time it actually gave me a lot, and the balls that I played went in. I'm pretty happy because I feel like we were both kinds of sometimes risking because the pace was really, really high," she added.
Talking about her finals opponent, Swiatek said, "Jabeur has a different game style than most of the players. She has a great touch. All these things mixed up, yeah, she's just a tough opponent."
( With inputs from ANI )
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