By Richard Pagliaro | Friday, August 18, 2023
World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won 10 of the last 12 games fighting past Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova 7-6(3), 6-1 into her first Cincinnati semifinal.
Photo credit: Western & Southern Open Facebook
A Cincinnati showdown between Grand Slam champions turned on a major momentum shift.
Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova twice served for the first set.
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A stubborn Iga Swiatek broke back both times then delivered a dose of sustained misery to the Czech.
World No. 1 Swiatek won 10 of the last 12 games, vanquishing Vondrousova 7-6(3), 6-1 to reach the Cincinnati semifinals for the first time.
It wasn't easy—Swiatek struggled at the outset to adapt to the left-handed Czech's shifting spins and hit several sub 80 mph first serves—but the top seed elevated her play in the second set and deconstructed Vondrousova with corner-to-corner combinations.
Swiatek, who broke when Vondrousova served for a one-set lead at 5-4 and again at 6-5, was resourceful in the first set and ruthless in the second set.
"For sure I'm really happy with my performance," Swiatek told Andrew Krasny afterward. "At the beginning, it wasn't easy to adjust to her spin because she's lefty, but I think she really used that and her experience for sure. But I really wanted to be determined and fight for every ball and at the end this is what worked.
"I think I was just much more focused and I kind of knew after the first set what works and what I should play. So I tried to learn from that first set. And in the second set, yeah, I know exactly what to do so I think that's why it was a good performance."
About the only second-set drama came in the final game when chair umpire Mirjana Cicak hit Swiatek with a time violation warning because she turned her back to the court as Vondrousova was standing at the line ready to serve. Swiatek, who has a habit of holding up her hand to stall opponents' serve if she sees a fan wandering around in the stands, protested after the win.
Cicak informed the world No. 1 you must play to the server's pace.
"It's her [time] to serve; she's serving and you're standing there for another five to seven seconds... that's not your time it's her time," Cicak told Swiatek.
Afterward, Swiatek said she was just trying to catch her breath.
"The rule is actually that the time is for her. When she's ready, I have to be ready," Swiatek said. "Like, she was ready really fast, you know?
"I mean, I just told Marija Cicak that I'm human, I need to breathe, you know (smiling). But I'm okay. I mean, I can still play well. Physically I'm ready. It's just there's the point that we have 20 seconds. I totally get the rule and I'm not going to, like, push because that's the rule and we have to adjust to it."
Swiatek improved to 53-8 on the season and will continue her quest for her fifth title of 2023 when she faces either seventh-seeded Coco Gauff or Italian qualifier Jasmine Paolini in tomorrow's semifinals.
In an all-Czech quarterfinal, Roland Garros runner-up Karolina Muchova held a 3-0 lead when Marie Bouzkova retired.
The 17th-ranked Muchova will meet either Australian Open champion and No. 2-seeded Aryna Sabalenka or three-time Grand Slam finalist and fifth-seeded Ons Jabeur for a spot in Sunday's final.
In this first hard-court clash between the major champions, Swiatek double-faulted to face the first break point in the third game. Swiatek dodged trouble when Vondrousova missed a backhand down the line, eventually holding for 2-1.
Hitting a heavy forehand return that left Swiatek lunging, Vondrousova stepped in and ripped a forehand winner down the line. That strike helped her gain triple break point in the fifth game. Though Swiatek saved the first two break points, she sprayed a drive on the third as the Czech scored the first break for a 3-2 lead after 20 minutes.
The Wimbledon winner backed up the break at 15 for 4-2.
Serving for the set, Vondrousova hit her first two double faults of the day wrapped around an unforced error to face triple break point. Swiatek rapped a backhand winner down the line, stamping the love break to level after 10 games.
Though Swiatek seemed to have momentum, she stalled it. The top seed double faulted and slapped a shot into net as Vondrousova earned her second break edging ahead 6-5.
In her second shot to serve for the set, Vondrousova couldn't close. A double fault and swarm of asserting shots from Swiatek propelled the Pole to the break to force the tiebreaker.
Denying her opponent's two efforts to serve out the set, Swiatek amped up her aggression in the tiebreaker. A crackling forehand and a biting backhand winner down the line put the Pole up 5-3 in the breaker.
Slamming a forehand off the baseline gave Swiatek set points at 6-3 and when Vondrousova nudged a backhand dropper into net, the world No. 1 had the hard-fought 56-minute opener.
Haunted by that inability to close, Vondrousova dropped serve for the third time in a row as Swiatek started the second set with the break.
Assertive court positioning and the precision of her drives helped Swiatek stretch the lead. Playing a few further further behind the baseline, Vondrousova was scurrying side-to-side to extend exchanges, but Swiatek slammed a backhand winner to break again for 4-1.
Swiatek ran off the final four games banging a backhand winner down the line for match point and slamming a forehand winner down the opposite sideline to improve her 2023 hard-court record to 27-5.