World No. 1 Iga Swiatek wins her third major title at the US Open
After a three-year break from the U.S. tour, Iga Swiatek has been playing on clay for the past three years, at a time when she has been having a renaissance when it comes to her game.
Iga Swiatek wins the U.S. Open in her third major title. (Petr Klima/Getty Images for USTA)
After a three-year break from the U.S. tour, Iga Swiatek has been playing on clay for the past three years, at a time when she has been having a renaissance when it comes to her game.
After a slow start to her season, Iga — who grew up playing tennis in Poland at the St. John’s Club in New York City — finished the year with a win at the US Open in her adopted town of Washington, DC, giving her a career-high ranking of 16 in the world, her fourth No. 1 and her second at Flushing Meadows. She was the first Polish woman to win the US Open since the tournament launched as the U.S. Open in 1881. In total, she has three major titles, three No. 1 rankings and five top-10 wins.
Iga first started playing American tennis against top players in 2010. Her breakthrough came in the year she went to the U.S. Open, where she upset then-world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki with a straight sets win at the second round. Then in 2011, she upset former top-ten player Angelique Kerber in the first round of the U.S. Open.
The next year, Iga got past world No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round in Washington. She then beat Kerber in the round of 16, and then a finalist with a straight sets win against defending champion Victoria Azarenka. The Polish star, who is the No. 5 ranked player in the world, had played just two matches on the clay surface after taking almost a year off to have