The world ranking vice-leader – Iga Świątek was put under additional pressure before her match with Jasmine Paolini (4. WTA). The five-time winner of Grand Slam tournaments had to win after Magda Linette (38. WTA) lost to Lucia Bronzetti (78. WTA) 4:6, 6:7 (3:7) to keep the Polish team in the chance of advancing to the final. If Świątek won, the fate of the match would be decided by the doubles match.
Iga Świątek is amazing! She turned the tables on the meeting
Świątek and Paolini have had incredible statistics so far. She has won three matches and lost only three games in each of them! Now, the two-time Grand Slam finalist this year (Roland Garros and Wimbledon) has won two games after only three games of the match. What’s more, after six games (3:3) she had three games on her account – the same number as in each of their three previous clashes.
The Italian went for it, but the Pole helped her a lot – for example, in the seventh game she made three unforced errors with her forehand. Świątek, like Linette, had the biggest problem with her forehand. She also had to fall in the 7th and 8th games. In them, she won only one of nine points. The Pole was losing 3:5 and her opponent was serving. Świątek was leading 40:0, but she wasted all three break points due to her errors. What’s more, she lost five rallies in a row and the set 3:6.
In the second set, the world’s vice-leader was still having problems. She kept making too many unforced errors. She won all three of her first service games by advantage. She had to defend five break points in total. She often saved herself with aces – she had six in those three games! (and 0 in the entire first set). After nine games, Świątek had three times as many unforced errors (14-5), but she was still leading 5-4. This was mainly due to the fact that she had more winners in that period (16-9). In the tenth game, the Italian was serving and losing 15-30. Then, the Pole played a great backhand return and had two set points. In the first game, she played the return badly. In the second, the Italian helped, making a mistake with her backhand and hitting the net. Świątek breathed a sigh of relief, because she led to the deciding set.
In this game, the Pole had big problems in the third. After three unsuccessful forehands, she was losing 15:40. However, she managed to defend four break points in this game. After a while, she followed up with two great winners down the line from the forehand, broke her opponent and led 3:1. However, the Italian made up for the break loss in the next game and there were great emotions. At 4:4, the Pole first won her serve and then had a match point on Paolini’s serve. The Italian then threw the ball out.
