As Iga Swiatek opened her challenge for a second US Open title in three years, it all seemed very much like business as usual.
A perennial master of the lopsided scoreline, the Polish world No 1 sped through the opening four games against Kamilla Rakhimova, a lucky loser ranked 104, for the loss of just three points. With less than a quarter of an hour gone, fans were poised to declare Iga’s bakery once again open for business.
Swiatek, of course, is no great fan of that trope – an allusion to her habit of doling out 6-0 and 6-1 sets, known in tennis parlance as bagels and breadsticks – because she believes it is disrespectful to her opponents. And in the event, it was not required.
Rakhimova saw to that. Encouraged by an abrupt dip in Swiatek’s level, the tenacious 22-year-old Russian shook off her initial nerves, rapidly growing in stature until it was all the top seed could do to parlay her initial lead into a one-set advantage. By the time Swiatek found herself facing three straight set points in the second-set tiebreak, having been broken as she served for victory three games earlier, it felt like anyone’s match.
“I’m happy that I’m through to the second round, because first rounds are never easy,” said the relieved Pole after recovering to complete a 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) victory. “But for sure I want to improve some things and adjust a little bit so I’ll make less mistakes.”
Swiatek, normally the most ruthless of closers, has become uncomfortably familiar with such circumstances of late. Since a magisterial clay-court season culminated with a fourth French Open title in June, the Pole has lost from a set up against Yulia Putintseva at Wimbledon, squandered a 4-0 second-set lead in a straight-sets defeat to Qinwen Zheng at the Olympics, and been forced to a decider by Varvara Gracheva in Cincinnati after holding five match points that would have given her a straight-sets win.
Mistakes were a significant factor in all those matches, and so it was again here, Swiatek’s frustration evident as she sprayed 41 unforced errors, the same number she committed against Gracheva. No wonder her mind drifted back to that contest.
“I felt like I had everything under control,” Swiatek told Eurosport in her native tongue, “and then I had flashbacks from the match against Gracheva in Cincinnati.
“I think I could have closed the match calmly, but there were so many errors. I didn’t feel comfortable enough to make everything look smooth.”
As Swiatek acknowledged in her on-court interview, she is still adjusting to the conditions in New York, where neither the slick courts nor the frenetic pace of life sit comfortably with her natural disposition.
Rhythm and range will come, but more alarming for the moment is the 23-year-old’s struggle for consistency. This was a far cry from last year’s US Open defeat to Jelena Ostapenko, when Swiatek was rushed into error after error by the Latvian’s powerful, incisive ball-striking. Rakhimova, who was defeated by Australia’s Priscilla Hon in the final round of qualifying, spent much of the match simply trying to hang on as a deluge of mighty groundstrokes rained down. Yet her tireless running and determination to keep putting one more ball in play reaped dividends; Swiatek may have dictated much of the match, but she rarely controlled it. As a result, Rakhimova remained in contention until the final ball.
Intriguingly, Swiatek has kept her counsel on the tournament’s decision to revert to a lighter ball. Two years ago, the Pole described the regular duty Wilson balls once again in use this year as “horrible”. Her reservations did not prevent her from winning the title, but they undoubtedly contributed to a switch to the same heavy duty ball used in the men’s draw at last year’s US Open, and it remains to be seen how the abandonment of that experiment will affect her game.
The initial evidence would suggest that, while Swiatek may be less comfortable off the ground with a lighter ball, she is benefiting on serve. The Pole could have landed her first delivery more frequently against Rakhimova, but her win percentage was a healthy 71%. Still more significant was the effectiveness of her second serve. Swiatek’s rearing kicker caused Rakhimova all manner of problems, her success rate of 69% boding well for the challenges that lie ahead. The most immediate of those will come in round two against Ena Shibahara of Japan, who defeated Australia’s Daria Saville 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8).