Swiatek keeps bagel factory producing at US Open, into round of 16
Iga Swiatek beat Kaja Juvan 6-0, 6-1 on Friday evening. She’ll face the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 20 seed, in the next round
© Zuma / Panoramic
Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, moved into the last 16 of the US Open by defeating Slovenian Kaja Juvan 6-0, 6-1 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York on Friday.
In what was an absolute mismatch, the only consolation for qualifier Juvan was that this match only lasted 49 minutes – and that the opponent she lost to was her best friend.
Across the brief duration of the match, world No 1 Swiatek won an incredible 50 points to 15, striking 21 winners in total against the player she describes as “like a sister” to her.
No mercy in clash between best friends
“I didn’t like the fact I was kind of winning against my best friend,” Swiatek said on court after her victory.
“I knew I had to be focused and not let myself think about that. Playing her is like playing a sister. I don’t have many friends but she’s my best friend.”
Later, Swiatek elaborated on what it was like to play her closest friend on Tour, particularly when Juvan gave an emotive reaction when she won her solitary game of the match.
“I wasn’t laughing for sure. For sure it wasn’t an easy match for her. Emotionally as well it’s not easy to, like, play with such a score. But I really just wanted to focus on myself and I think also because I knew that it’s going to be a little bit harder for me to focus because she’s my best friend, I was actually more focused than usual.
“I’m happy that I could do that and I was like fully professional. Usually on a match when something like that happens, I don’t really look and I did the same this time as well.”
Swiatek closes in on record number of Grand Slam bagels
With the 6-0, 6-1 victory, Swiatek draws level with Victoria Azarenka (2012) and Martina Hingis (2002) for the most number of 6-0 sets in Grand Slams in a season, having made eight already this year.
Only Serena Williams has more, recording 13 6-0 sets in 2013.
The 22-year-old has a ruthless reputation for “bagelling” opponents en route to victory, having claimed more than double to number of 6-0 sets than any other player on the WTA Tour this year.
Already in the US Open, she has two to her name, having defeated Swede Rebecca Peterson (6-0, 6-1) in the first round.
Pole respectful about 6-0 sets
Despite Swiatek’s ruthless nature on the tennis court, off it she’s remarkably respectful of her opponents.
When asked about her reputation as a “bagel factory”, the 22-year-old had this to say:
“I don’t really want to talk about that, because I really understand why people do this, because it’s fun and tennis is entertainment and all that. But from the players’ point of view, I want to be respectful of my opponents and, you know, you don’t see what’s going on behind the scenes.”
Swiatek continued, explaining, “Sometimes it’s not easy to play such matches and sometimes it’s not easy for opponents either. I don’t want to talk about a bagel factory. Twitter can talk about it, but I’m going to focus on tennis. And, yes, as far as my opponents are concerned, I really don’t want to talk about it.”
Time will tell whether or not she can break Serena’s all time 6-0 record in Grand Slams, but either way, we’re unlikely to hear from the Pole about it.
New York (Grand Slam), other third-round results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 44.700.000, most recent results first):
- Xinyu Wang beat Anna Karolina Schmiedlova: 4-6, 6-3, 6-2
- Karolina Muchova (10) beat Taylor Townsend: 7-6, 6-3
- Elena Rybakina vs. Sorana Cirstea
- Clara Burel vs. Aryna Sabalenka
- Daria Kasatkina vs. Greet Minnen
- Qinwen Zheng vs. Lucia Bronzetti
- Ons Jabeur vs. Marie Bouzkova
- Elina Svitolina vs. Jessica Pegula
- Liudmila Samsonova vs. Madison Keys
- Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Marketa Vondrousova
- Katie Boulter vs. Peyton Stearns
- Elise Mertens vs. Coco Gauff
- Lin Zhu vs. Belinda Bencic
- Caroline Wozniacki vs. Jennifer Brady
- Jelena Ostapenko vs. Bernarda Pera: friday
