Aug 31, 2024, 09:20 PM ET
Amid shocking upsets on the men’s side of the draw, women’s world No. 1 Iga Swiatek had little trouble advancing to the second week of the US Open.
Swiatek enjoyed a routine 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 25 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova on Saturday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Backhand Compliment
Iga Swiatek’s backhand side was really scratchy in her first-round match, but it’s been much better since then …
• 1st round: 8 winners, 22 unforced errors
• 2nd round: 4 winners, 3 unforced errors
• Saturday night: 8 winners, 3 unforced errors
— ESPN Stats & Information
“I just wanted to kind of focus on myself,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “For sure she’s a great player and she’s really powerful so you have to be ready for the first couple of shots to be really fast.”
Swiatek has now reeled off 17 consecutive service games without facing a break point. The last time she was broken was in the first round against Kamilla Rakhimova, when serving for the match at 5-4 in the second set.
Swiatek will meet No. 16 seed Liudmila Samsonova in the fourth round Monday. She is 3-0 against Samsonova, with their last meeting coming in the Beijing final in 2023.
This will be Swiatek’s 16th appearance in the round of 16 at a major, the most of any player since her Grand Slam debut at the 2019 Australian Open.
ESPN Stats & Information and Reuters contributed to this report.
