On Saturday, Iga Świątek not only extended the chances of the Polish women in the quarterfinals of the Billie Jean King Cup against the Czechs by winning the singles match, but also contributed to winning the decisive point in the doubles. Two days later, she had the same difficult task in the match against the Italians. At first, it seemed that the first obstacle in the form of the brave Jasmine Paolini might be too difficult, although everything, or almost everything, spoke in favor of the vice-leader of the world ranking. In the end, her determination prevailed, thanks to which she won 3:6, 6:4, 6:4, giving the Polish national team another chance.
Świątek’s rival with a tennis late bloomer. Italian robot
Polish fans could rub their eyes in amazement at the beginning of Monday’s duel between Świątek and Paolini. In each of their three previous meetings, the player from Italy had managed to score a total of just three games. Now, she had four games in the middle of the first set, after 36 minutes of play (she was leading 4:3).
Let no one be fooled by this balance so far. Paolini is – next to the Chinese Qinwen Zheng – the biggest revelation of this season in women’s tennis . She started it at the end of the top “30” of the world ranking and ends it as the fourth racket in the world. And what is very impressive is not only the pace of this climb, but also the fact that it concerns a tennis player whom many people have already condemned to remain forever a background for the top players. Meanwhile, the Italian of Polish origin, who is only 1.63 m tall, blossomed and shone only as a 28-year-old.
And she really shone brightly, because she played in two Grand Slam singles finals ( Roland Garrosand Wimbledon), in Roland Garros she also played in the doubles final, and two months later on the clay court in Paris she added Olympic gold in doubles. Paolini was successful in both events this season, which meant she really played a lot. She was the only player this year to compete in the WTA Finals both individually and in a duet.
As one of the journalists present in Malaga calculated, the doubles match in the quarterfinals with the Japanese team was the Italian’s 110th match this season. By comparison, Świątek had played “only” 76 matches so far. It seemed that the 28-year-old from Italy would be running on fumes on Monday. In addition, she had clearly not been doing well in her matches against an opponent five years younger than her, and on top of that, the Polish player – despite the end of the season – is more fresh than most players thanks to her recent two-month break from play. True, she lost her match rhythm because of it, but thanks to the WTA Finals and two earlier matches in the BJK Cup, she had a chance to regain it a bit. Although both Monday’s performance and the previous ones in Malaga showed that she is still looking for stability in competition with top opponents.
