By Russell Miller
World number one Iga Swiatek fought back from a set down in a scrappy performance against the German Jule Niemeier to reach the US Open quarter finals for the first time in her career.
Niemeier, who caught the tennis world’s attention in June when she reached the last 8 at Wimbledon, impressed once again with her big serving and aggressive game, which caused problems early on for the Pole, but lost eventually 2-6, 6-4, 6-0.
Swiatek was broken in the opening game of the match, before handing another break to go 5-2 down, when the unseeded player served the first set out.
The two-time Roland Garros champion looked in huge trouble when she went a break down early in the second set, before the world number 108’s game started to break down.
After an exchange of 4 breaks in a row, the Pole struck the decisive blow at 5-4 up to level the score up.
The German then hit 14 unforced errors in a rapid deciding set where Swiatek displayed the ruthless form that got her through three opening rounds here in straight sets.
Despite her clear dislike of the balls used at this tournament, Swiatek said after her match that she is feeling better about her chances as she edges closer to finals weekend.
‘For sure this match gave me a lot because it’s always nice to come back and kind of lean on that, that you can change something and play better, also make some adjustment during the game.’ The Pole said, before adding ‘yeah, I feel more confident every match, but still I’m trying not to get my expectations too high because I know anything can happen.’
Swiatek’s next test will come in the form of 8th seed Jessica Pegula, who knocked out Petra Kvitova earlier on in the day. The pair will be contesting the first Grand Slam match of the season in the women’s singles featuring two top ten players.
Swiatek leads 2-1 in their head-to-head, having won both of their meetings this year in straight sets. The American has lost all three of her Slam quarter finals in singles, but has shown great consistency throughout this season, and will be by far Swiatek’s biggest threat so far.
