Swiatek stays cool as Williams grabs ‘her time’ spotlight
Iga Swiatek is winning easily — and quietly.
At this US Open, even the world’s No 1 player is a distant No 2 as long as Serena Williams is still around.
“Yeah, that’s kind of her time right now,” Swiatek said. “I’m just playing and focusing on that, and that’s the most important thing for me.”
The two-time French Open champion beat 2017 US Open winner Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 yesterday in the second round for her WTA Tourleading 50th victory this season.
A day after Williams eliminated No 2 seed Anett Kontaveit, with No 3 Maria Sakkari also losing, Swiatek perhaps looms as an even bigger threat to win a seventh title this year, something no woman has done since Williams in 2014.
Past US Open champions Naomi Osaka and Emma Raducanu have also been eliminated, along with 2021 runner-up Leylah Fernandez.
No 6 Aryna Sabalenka remains the only women’s semifinalist from last year in the field — barely — by erasing two match points and edging Kaia Kanepi 2-6, 7-6 (8), 6-4. But fourthseeded Paula Badosa was knocked out with a 6-7 (5), 6-1, 6-2 loss to Croatian Petra Martic.
Swiatek came to the US Open just 4-4 in her last eight matches after winning 37 straight, but has dropped just eight games through two rounds. She needed only one hour, 14 minutes to beat Stephens.
Williams resumes what could be her final singles tournament today, against Ajla Tomljanovic. Yesterday, she was back on court along with big sister Venus, where they lost 7-6 (5), 6-4 to the Czech duo of Lucie Hradecka and Linda Noskova in the first round of the doubles.
After that match, 22-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal accidentally bloodied himself on the bridge of the nose with his racket early in the fourth set of a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2,
6-1 victory over Fabio Fognini. Nadal hit a backhand and, on the follow-through, his racket ricocheted off the court and smacked him in the face, cutting his nose. Nadal lay down on his back on the sideline while a trainer treated him.
“Well, just a little bit dizzy at the beginning,” Nadal said after wrapping up the win about 20 minutes later. “A little bit painful.”
Other winners yesterday included No 8 Jessica Pegula, No 9 Garbine Muguruza, No 13 Belinda Bencic and No 26 Victoria Azarenka, who didn’t get a handshake from Marta Kostyuk after beating the Ukrainian player.
Azarenka is from Belarus, a country that helped Russia launch its invasion of Ukraine.
“I just don’t think it’s the right thing to do in the circumstances I’m in right now,” Kostyuk said.
No 3 Carlos Alcaraz tied for the season lead in victories on the men’s tour with his 46th by beating Federico Coria of Argentina 6-2, 6-1, 7-5.
No 7 Cam Norrie, No 9 Andrey Rublev, No 11 Jannik Sinner and No 15 Marin Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, advanced, but No 25 Borna Coric was upset by American Jenson Brooksby 6-4, 7-6 (10), 6-1.
Brooksby reached the fourth round at Flushing Meadows as a
20-year-old last year, winning a set from Novak Djokovic. He will play the
19-year-old Alcaraz next.