By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday April 21, 2023
Iga Swiatek had to battle hard to get past Karolina Pliskova in three sets on Friday in Stuttgart.
Photo Source: TTV
Are we witnessing the beginning of another epic unscathed march through the clay court season by Iga Swiatek? Last season the Pole won all 15 matches she played on European clay and finished her spring holding the Coupe Suzanne Lenglen aloft for the second time.
She was Iga the invincible for most of that stretch, but on Friday in Stuttgart – at least for a spell – she was Iga the vulnerable as she dropped the opening set to Karolina Pliskova at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
The defending champion, true to form, righted the ship and got past Pliskova 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to book her spot in the semis, where Ons Jabeur awaits.
“For sure she started very well,” Swiatek said. “And I did the opposite. I couldn’t find the rhythm at the beginning and she really used that, with her experience and her game.”
Make it 46-7 on clay for her career on clay for Swiatek, who has won five of the 12 clay-ourt events she has played at tour-level. That stat includes Rome, where Swiatek shellacked Pliskova 6-0, 6-0 in the final in 2021, but it wasn’t such a simple path to victory on Friday.
On Friday it was Pliskova getting off to a fast start and winning the first four games, but Swiatek would soon get in the swing of things.
“I should have been more prepared at the beginning,” Swiatek said. “Next time I’m for sure going to change that but I’m really happy with how I came back in the second set, I was feeling better in the first set already but it was already too late – two breaks down.” Swiatek finished with 23 winners against 35 unforced errors, while Pliskova hit 21 winners against 59 unforced errors. The Pole saved four of five breaks across sets two and three, including two with Pliskova angling to get the final set back on serve in the fourth game.
In the end it was Swiatek who held down the fort and stretched her 2023 record to 18-4. Swiatek improves to 29-15 in three-setters for her career – she was stretched to three sets for the first time in 2023 on Friday.
Resurgent Jabeur Next
Ons Jabeur had her back against the wall on Thursday, trailing by a set and a break to Jelena Ostapenko before coming back to win in three. It was smooth sailing for the Tunisian trailblazer on Friday, however. She put the hurt on Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3, 6-0 to reach the semis. Jabeur, now 47-19 lifetime on clay, is 2-3 lifetime against Swiatek.
It is the Pole who has taken the pair’s last two meetings, in high-stakes finals at Rome (6-2, 6-2) and the US Open (6-2, 7-6(5)) in 2022.
After undergoing minor knee surgery in February, Jabeur is finding her best tennis once again this spring. She improves to 11-4 on the season with her win over the Brazilian.
The lower half semifinal will feature Anastasia Potapova and Aryna Sabalenka.
Potapova took out fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, while Sabalenka battled past Paula Badosa, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
Potapova is one of the tour’s most improved players in 2023, having jumped nearly 100 spots in the rankings in the last 52 weeks. She is 25-12 lifetime on clay after Friday’s win, and 16-6 on the season with a title in Linz.
Sabalenka, this year’s Australian Open champion, improves to 22-3 on the year. She has never faced Potapova before.