Quick, slow, quick: such is the rhythm of Iga Swiatek’s US Open so far.
Following the rapid turnaround that saw her hotfoot it from the Cincinnati Open to New York, where she began her mixed doubles campaign alongside Casper Ruud this time last week only hours after defeating Jasmine Paolini in the Cincinnati Open final, the Polish world No 2 finally got her singles campaign underway at Flushing Meadows.
This year’s Sunday start means the season’s final major is already well underway and, having entered the fray belatedly, Swiatek had the air of a woman eager to make up for lost time. She dispatched Emiliana Arango of Colombia 6-1, 6-2 in exactly an hour, delivering a performance as dominant as the scoreline would suggest to secure a second-round meeting with Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands.
If it was quick, Swiatek would not have it any other way. The concrete cacophony that is New York will never be the most natural habit for a woman who once wrote a column about her rise entitled: “The story of a Polish introvert”, although you would hardly have guessed it from the commanding nature of a display in which she fired 26 winners and did not face a single break point. Despite the summary nature of the win, Swiatek is evidently in no hurry to leave the city just yet.
Indeed, it was all very much business as usual for the Pole, who has now won 65 straight opening-round matches at tour level to eclipse the open-era record previously held by Monica Seles. That run includes 24 in a row at the majors, matching the mark achieved by her compatriot Agnieszka Radwanska – the most recent player to achieve such early-round consistency – between 2009 and 2015.
Those numbers will mean little to Swiatek; not when she has her sights set on the larger prize of a second US Open title to go with her 2022 victory. Yet they underline the wider sense of resurgence surrounding the 24-year-old after her unexpected run to the Wimbledon crown this summer. Gone is the player who endured a 13-month trophy drought, replaced by the serial winner of old – one who knows how to navigate the unique challenges of a city that reputedly never sleeps.
“In 2022, it’s not like I played amazing from the beginning,” said Swiatek. “It was probably the toughest slam [in which] I had to overcome a lot of challenges and I managed to win it. Every year is kind of tough, you know, because New York is just so loud and it’s hard to find that balance off the court.
“I’ve got to say I’m probably good at it compared to other players, so I’m really trying to be in my bubble. The comfort level is hard to describe, because the tournament is so long, you’re basically here for three weeks, so obviously it’s not going to be the same every day.
“But I feel pretty happy with my performance in Cincinnati, I’m trying to get some confidence from that. There are a lot of positive vibes in the team.”
So there should be. Opening rounds can be a tricky business, as Renata Zarazúa demonstrated when she dealt Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion and a former US Open finalist, a 6-7 (10-12), 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 defeat on Monday.
Keys, the sixth seed, led by a set and 3-0 but was undone by a whopping 89 unforced errors as the Mexican world No 82, who had never previously beaten a top-10 opponent, claimed the biggest win of her career.
“I feel like today, for the first time in a while, my nerves really got the better of me, and it kind of became a little bit paralysing,” said Keys. “I want to win, but just feeling like winning matters just way too much, and I just couldn’t quite separate myself from that. Once you start playing badly, it just kind of all snowballs.”
The shock result offered another reminder that the kind of early-round consistency Swiatek has made her trademark can never be taken for granted. Not that the six-time grand slam champion is about to get carried away.
“I’m happy that I had some time to just get used to the conditions and the surface, because for sure it’s different than the practice courts,” she said. “I think it was just a solid match, and I’m happy that I can play another round here.