Polish star Swiatek on song at United Cup
Shayne Hope |
World No.1 Iga Swiatek has opened her United Cup campaign with a straight-sets thrashing of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva.
Swiatek gave Poland a 1-0 lead in the mixed teams tournament tie with a commanding 6-1 6-3 win in Brisbane on Saturday.
The 21-year-old saved a break point in the opening game and was never troubled from there.
She displayed the sort of intensity, focus and aggression that led her to eight singles titles in 2022, including the French and US Open crowns.
“I’m pretty happy that I won my first match of the season and last of this year, because it would be pretty sad if I would finish this year with a loss,” Swiatek said.
“I’m happy that I played a solid match and on important moments I really could be proactive and win.”
Kazakhstan levelled the tie at 1-1 when Timofey Skatov defeated Daniel Michalski 7-6 6-2.
Swiatek went on a 37-match winning streak last season – the equal-longest in women’s tennis since Steffi Graf in 1990.
But she revealed on the eve of the United Cup that she initially struggled with taking on retired Australian ace Ash Barty’s world No.1 mantle.
Swiatek hopes to take her game to even greater heights in 2023 and has hit the ground running ahead of next month’s Australian Open.
She was a semi-finalist at Melbourne Park last summer, losing to American Danielle Collins.
Swiatek said starting the season injury free was a big plus.
“A couple of times when I was starting the season, I also was coming back from an injury,” Swiatek said.
“I actually have never had this easy start of the season. Not easy but maybe without any extra baggage.
“I feel like this time I can actually just focus on getting into the rhythm and not really think about other stuff. We will see how it’s going to go.”
AAP
