For her first appearance since her defeat in the round of 16 of the US Open against Jelena Ostapenko and, therefore, since the loss of world number one to the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek (2nd WTA) made it through the second round of the WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo (she was exempt from the first), Wednesday, against the Japanese Mai Hontama (6-4, 7-5).
Trailing 4-1 double break, then 4-3, 40-0, the Pole gave a lot, especially on the forehand side, but in the Tokyo humidity, she was able to rectify the situation, winning the first set after a huge defense point (6-4 in 59 minutes) then then quite clearly take the lead (6-4, 5-1), without ever completely playing out her tennis, facing the small and quick Hontama, from the qualifications and 148th player world this week. The latter also took advantage of a new string of errors from Swiatek to get back to 5-5, saving two match points. But she then quickly gave up the last two games, losing on a final backhand mistake in the net (6-4, 7-5 in 2h02).
In the quarter-finals, Iga Swiatek will face Russian Veronika Kudermetova, 19th in the world, against whom she only lost eight games in total in their first three duels.
2023-09-27 10:31:55
#Iga #Swiatek #struggling #victorious #recovery #Tokyo
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