World No. 1 Iga Swiatek comes from behind to defeat Jule Niemeier, advancing to US Open quarterfinals.
Iga Swiatek of Switzerland advances to the US Open quarterfinals in dramatic fashion.
On the surface her performance in the Australian Open is no fault. She played with a broken left wrist, had to withdraw halfway through her second round match against top seed Agnieszka Radwanska, and had to withdraw her first round match at the US Open, the last event in which she plays. That means, all told, she spent nearly two weeks out of action.
Yet, her return to action was more successful than anyone could’ve imagined. On Monday afternoon, Swiatek was the No. 1 seed at the Australian Open, and had a chance to advance to her third consecutive major quarterfinal. Swiatek played her best tennis of the season against one of the best players in the world, Jo Konerding, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2, a victory punctuated with spectacular shots that made her fans explode.
The question was how, exactly, would Swiatek return from two months of self-imposed inactivity. How did she do it? How did she return to form after nearly two months off the courts?
The answer: she did it with remarkable, powerful shots, while playing some of her best tennis of her young career.
“I was like ‘no, this is it,'” Swiatek told Sports Illustrated. “Just to get back to playing again like this is unreal. To be able to play like that, and to have the time off that I needed, it just feels really good.”
For the second year in a row, Swiatek was the No. 1 seed at the Australian Open. While her early-round match against Radwanska was on the verge of falling apart, her match against Konerding was on the verge