Iga Świątek’s immense talent has been widely discussed since at least her victory at the junior Wimbledon in 2018.However, the leap to the professional level is never easy, as many players have learned in the past. However, it was different in the case of the Raszyn player. 27 months after her success on the London lawns, it was time for her first Grand Slam scalp among seniors.
It was the end of September 2020. Nothing foreshadowed what was to happen in two weeks. The 19-year-old Pole flew to Paris straight from Rome, where she had an unsuccessful performance in a WTA 1000 tournament. In the capital of Italy, she was eliminated in the first round, losing to Arantxa Rus 6:7(5), 3:6 . However, the tournament on the Seine turned out to be a completely different story, but a beautiful one for our tennis player.
Four years have passed since Iga Świątek’s first title at Roland Garros. A story like a fairy tale
That edition of Roland Garros took place at a different time than usual. All because of the coronavirus pandemic. Right from the start, Iga faced the defending finalist of the tournament – Marketa Vondrousova. The Pole outclassed the Czech, winning 6:1, 6:2. This match turned out to be a prophecy of what was to come. In the next stages, Świątek dealt with Su-Wei Hsieh and Eugenie Bouchard, until she faced Simona Halep in the fourth round.
Less than a year and a half earlier, the Romanian gave our tennis player a harsh lesson in the same phase of the competition. The winner of the Paris event from the 2018 season won 6:1, 6:0. This time, the player from Raszyn took revenge, in equally spectacular style. She defeated the favorite of the tournament 6:1, 6:2 and opened up the tournament bracket for good. After defeating Martina Trevisan and Nadia Podoroska, the Polish representative registered for the final.
On October 10, 2020, the decisive clash for the title at Roland Garros took place. Iga Świątek faced a tennis player who had already celebrated her Grand Slam triumph last season. We are talking about Sofia Kenin, the winner of the Australian Open. However, our representative did not care about this fact at all. After tipping the scales in her favor in the first set, she completely dominated her opponent in the second part .
With a 6:4, 6:1 win, she secured her success in the Paris event. In the entire tournament, she lost only 28 games in seven matches. 19-year-old Iga became the first representative of Poland to win a Grand Slam singles competition . She quickly filled the void that appeared after Agnieszka Radwańska ended her career.
