the polish Iga Swiatek exhibited the stripes of the world number one on Thursday and came back from a set and a break down in the third set to beat the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-1 and 6-4 and fly to the final of the US Open, in which she will face the Tunisian Ons Jabeur.
At 21 years old, Swiatek will fight this Saturday for the third Grand Slam title of his careerafter winning a double crown at Roland Garros.
The Polish player, the first from her country to reach a final in Flushing Meadows, needed two hours and eleven minutes to knock down Sabalenka, who stopped in the semifinals in New York for the second consecutive year.
Swiatek has already twenty victories in the ‘big’ this year and accumulates 56 wins in the season, with the possibility of equaling this Saturday the 57 wins of the Australian Ashleigh Barty in 2019.
He had the merit of not losing confidence at any time, despite the fact that, particularly in the first round, his service was very fragile. It is something that she had already experienced in the quarterfinals against American Jessica Pegula.
The Belarusian, who had served forcefully in the quarterfinals against the Czech Karolina Pliskova, whom she won without conceding any break ball, managed three breaks and despite giving up her service in the fourth game, she sentenced the quarter with a good volley for the 6-3.
Swiatek, who had only lost twelve games in the previous three meetings with Sabalenka, reacted strongly and opened the second round with eight consecutive points to take a 2-0 lead.
He recovered solidity with the serve and kept his first two at-bats to nil to open the way to a 6-1 that reopened the match and forced the decisive set.
Swiatek had inertia in his favor at that moment, but in the third set he gave up his service twice in the first three turns and despite recovering one of the two breaks, he was on the ropes against a Sabalenka who came to serve being ahead 4-3.
However, the Polish player did not tremble and played some excellent games against the rest, getting two breaks while suffering just one point.
He chained three consecutive games and a setback finished in the Sabalenka net He gave him the ticket for a new final of a ‘great’, after the one he won at Roland Garros.
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It will be measured with Ons Jabeur, which bordered on a perfect match and was imposed with authority on the French Caroline García 6-1 and 6-3.
The number five in the world revalidated the triumphs she had won against Garcia at the 2019 United States Open and the 2020 Australian Open and will fight this Saturday for the first ‘big’ of her career, after the Kazakh Elena Rybakina denied him glory at Wimbledon.
Our Jabeur
History continues to be made by Jabeur, who is the first North African player to reach the final at Flushing Meadows.
In addition, he will gain three positions in the ranking starting this Monday and He will go from fifth to second place.
He was forceful when it came to converting his break balls, four out of four, and to that he added 21 winners to chain finals at Wimbledon and in New York, something that had not been recorded since 2019, with the American Serena Williams as the protagonist.
He did it after disarming a Garcia who came to this match being one of the most fit players of the momentas she demonstrated just two days ago with a convincing victory against the American Coco Gauff.
She had a streak of thirteen consecutive victories, started in the Cincinnati qualifying phase, where she ended up winning the title in the final against the Czech Petra Kvitova, with only four lost sets.
Jabeur extended his winning streak in the semifinals to six of six this year and he only needed 66 minutes to seal the ticket for the final.
He had 27 breaks in this tournament and this Thursday he converted his three chances in the first set to win it 6-1 in less than half an hour.
He did not grant any chance of breaking and converted the only break ball of the second set in the fourth game to shield his pass to the final.
There is balance in the precedents between Swiatek and Jabeurwith the Polish woman who beat her this year in the Rome final and in Washington 2019, and the Tunisian woman who triumphed at Wimbledon and Cincinnati 2021.
