Compelling though that narrative may be, however, the grass-court season has produced a more diverse range of champions. Ekaterina Alexandrova won in s’Hertogenbosch. Britain’s Katie Boulter claimed her first tour-level title in Nottingham. Petra Kvitova, twice a Wimbledon winner, was crowned champion in Berlin, while Jelena Ostapenko claimed bragging rights in Birmingham. The big three may have formed a cartel, carving up the past five grand slams between them, but other options are available, certainly on grass.

Whether that trend will continue at the All England Club is another matter. The smart money still says one of Swiatek, Sabalenka or Rybakina will lift the Venus Rosewater dish come the second Saturday. Yet a measure of doubt surrounds all three. 

Sabalenka and Rybakina both come into the tournament looking a little undercooked. After suffering an unexpected defeat to Veronika Kudermetova at the German Open, Sabalenka, the Australian Open champion and world No 2, has played only two competitive matches on grass. Rybakina, meanwhile, still wrestling with the after-effects of a viral infection that forced her to withdraw from the French Open, was beaten by Donna Vekic in Berlin and subsequently pulled out of Eastbourne – hardly ideal preparation for the defence of her Wimbledon title.

As for Swiatek, everything appeared to be going swimmingly as she advanced to the first grass-court semi-final of her career in Bad Homburg. But with the Wimbledon draw in progress, the Polish world No 1 announced she was pulling out of her match against Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti due to “fever and possible food poisoning”. Swiatek has since revealed that she began to feel better later the same day, but her fitness will be the subject of close scrutiny when she faces China’s Zhu Lin on Monday.

Against this backdrop of form and fitness concerns, could the timing be right for an outsider to come up on the rails?

First quarter

Assuming she has indeed made a full recovery, Swiatek looks well placed to improve on her previous best showing in SW19, which came two years ago when she reached the fourth round. The 21-year-old’s performances in Bad Homburg suggested that she has discovered the tactical clarity and belief to do well on grass, qualities she identified as lacking following last summer’s shock third-round defeat to Alizé Cornet, which ended a historic 37-match winning streak. 

Much as she did then, Swiatek arrives at the All England Club with the wind in her sails. Having won a third French Open title in four years earlier this month, she will begin her annual attempt to solve the riddle of Wimbledon’s grass on a run of 10 straight victories, and feeling better about her prospects than she has done at any time since winning the junior event in 2018.

“Last year I felt a lot of pressure here because I was No 1,” said Swiatek. “I feel like this time was the first year where I could just focus on practising and actually learning a lot, so hopefully I’m going to be able to use that in my matches.

“Getting used to the grass was always the tricky part, because when you play well at Roland Garros then you have less time to prepare for Wimbledon. But this year I feel like I’ve done a little bit more than for the past years.”

The path to a fifth grand slam title is not without pitfalls, starting with Zhu, who as the world No 33 is the highest-ranked non-seed in the draw. After reaching the last-16 of a slam for the first time at this year’s Australian Open, the 29-year-old won her maiden title in Thailand. Zhu’s best results have come on hard courts, but wins over Venus Williams and Maria Sakkari this season suggest Swiatek will need to be on her mettle.

Petra Martic, the Croatian 30th seed and a prospective third-round opponent for Swiatek, is a more assured competitor on grass, having reached the fourth round at three of the past five Wimbledons – including last year, when she dispatched Jessica Pegula in round three. Martic, though, must navigate a potentially tricky opener against 18-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova, the rising Czech world No 49, before she can contemplate any giant-killing.

Belinda Bencic, the world No 14 and another last-16 veteran, could await Swiatek in the fourth round, ahead of a projected quarter-final tussle with Coco Gauff, against whom the Pole is unbeaten in seven meetings. If the seedings hold, Swiatek will meet Pegula, the fourth seed, in the last four.

Notable first-round matches in this quarter include an all-American clash between Gauff and Sofia Kenin, the former Australian Open champion, who breezed through qualifying without dropping a set. Equally eye-catching is the meeting of Williams, the 43-year-old five-time champion, and Elina Svitolina, a quarter-finalist earlier this month at the French Open and former world No 3.

Semi-finalist: Swiatek

Second quarter 

Pegula recently offered a bullish assessment of her prospects at a tournament where, like Swiatek, she has struggled to do herself justice.

“I feel good, I feel rested, and I feel like I’ll maybe have my love affair with grass this year,” she told Rennae Stubbs. “I feel like it’s coming.”

Five times a grand slam quarter-finalist – although never at Wimbledon, where she has yet to advance beyond the third round – could Pegula finally be poised for a deeper run? There are grounds for cautious optimism. Last year, the 29-year-old’s build-up to the fortnight was overshadowed by her mother’s near-fatal cardiac arrest. This time around, Pegula is better prepared, having played both singles and doubles at Eastbourne, where she was beaten in the quarter-finals by Gauff. 

A navigable draw augurs well for the New Yorker, who opens against her compatriot Lauren Davis. Liudmila Samsonova, who has taken her the distance in all three of their previous meetings, could turn out to be a banana skin should the pair face each other in round four; Pegula’s only loss to the Russian 15th seed came two years ago at Wimbledon. Beyond that, she is projected to play Caroline Garcia – whom she demolished in the opening round two years ago – for a place in the last four. Garcia, seeded fifth, has won the two most recent of their four meetings.

Also lurking in this section are Kudermetova and Vekic, the 20th seed, who defeated Maria Sakkari and Rybakina on her way to the Berlin final. 

Anett Kontaveit, the former world No 2 who will retire after Wimbledon, opens against Italian qualifier Lucrezia Stefanini.

Semi-finalist: Pegula.

Third quarter

This is where the fun really starts. Rybakina may have come through all three of her meetings with Swiatek this season – most notably at the Australian Open, where she went on to reach her second final in three slams – but the 23-year-old’s path to a Centre Court reunion with the Polish top seed is fraught with hazard. 

The roll call of potential opponents reads like a who’s who of seasoned pros, in-form grass-courters and major champions. Round one: Shelby Rogers, who has won two of their five meetings, including the most recent on the grass courts of s’ Hertogenbosch last summer. Round two: the ever-dangerous Cornet, who would relish the chance to follow up last year’s win over Swiatek with another major upset. Round three: home favourite Boulter, the champion in Nottingham. Round four: one of Jelena Ostapenko, the winner in Birmingham last week, Beatriz Haddad Maia, a former champion in Nottingham and Birmingham, or the German veteran Tatjana Maria, a semi-finalist in SW19 last year. As if that run weren’t onerous enough, Rybakina is slated to face Ons Jabeur in the last eight, in what would be a repeat of last year’s final. 

Yet nothing can be taken for granted in this stacked section of the draw. The sixth-seeded Jabeur, who starts against Poland’s Magdalena Frech, may need to negotiate a tricky last-16 meeting with two-time Wimbledon champion Kvitova. That, in turn, is assuming that Kvitova gets past Karolina Pliskova, a former Wimbledon finalist, in round three. Peril lurks at every turn.

With Sabalenka potentially awaiting in the semi-finals, Rybakina could not have been handed a tougher draw – and the task will be none the easier for the Kazakhstani if she is still grappling with ill-health and injury. Nevertheless, she believes she is prepared.

“For sure people are more focused, more motivated to play against me,” said Rybakina. “It’s a new challenge for me to be a defending champion, but I’m ready for this.”  

She will need to be.

Semi-finalist: Jabeur.

 Fourth quarter

What of Sabalenka’s prospects? Since capturing her long-awaited maiden grand slam in Melbourne at the start of the year, the Belarusian has been a model of consistency. Performing with newfound composure and conviction, she has reached the quarter-finals or better at all but two of the 10 events she has played this season, winning three titles and making a further two finals. 

Had Sabalenka converted the match point she held against Karolina Muchova in the French Open semi-finals, she might even have arrived at Wimbledon as the new world No 1, with the third leg of a calendar year grand slam in her sights.

The big question now, as Sabalenka returns for the first time since reaching the semi-finals two years ago, is how much mental baggage she has brought with her to south-west London after a complicated campaign at Roland Garros. Despite the intense off-court scrutiny she faced in Paris, where she was repeatedly asked about the support of her native Belarus for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, it is the crushing nature of her loss to Muchova that will perhaps weigh most heavily.

“That defeat was devastating,” said British TV pundit Annabel Croft. “It will be very difficult to overcome.”

The acid test for Sabalenka, who faces Hungary’s Panna Udvardy in the first round, is likely to come in the last 16, where she is expected to cross swords with Muchova again. The Czech’s all-court game is better suited to grass than clay, and she was enthusing about her prospects at the All England Club within hours of losing to Swiatek in the French Open final. 

“I look forward to playing on the grass, on the fast surfaces, that’s for sure the surfaces I prefer,” said Muchova, who can expect a stern test in her opener against Germany’s Jule Niemeier, a surprise quarter-finalist last year.

A focused and firing Sabalenka will nonetheless take some stopping in the lower half, and already the second seed has moved to ensure that she fits that description. Clearly alive to the likelihood of facing further political questions after the lifting of last year’s ban on Russian and Belarusian, Sabalenka has made it plain from the outset that she will not answer such inquiries.

“I would like to say I’m not going to talk about politics,” Sabalenka told the media on the eve of the tournament. “I’m here to talk about tennis only. Please respect that. 

“If you have any kind of political questions, you can ask the WTA or the tournament. They can send you the transcript of my answers from the previous tournaments.”

Semi-finalist: Muchova.

Semi-finals: Swiatek to defeat Pegula; Jabeur to defeat Muchova.

Final: Swiatek to defeat Jabeur.

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On Saturday, Kvitova defeated Elena Rybakina 7-6 (16-14), 6-2 to win the Miami Open for the first time, ending the Kazakh’s 13-match unbeaten run and denying her the “sunshine double” of Indian Wells and Miami. 

Kvitova’s biggest title win in five years, against an opponent in blistering form and at a tournament where she had never previously been beyond the quarter-finals, may be received with surprise in some quarters. Yet a result like this has been coming for a while now.

The Czech first showed signs of a resurgence when she ended a title drought of more than a year on the grass courts of Eastbourne last summer. Another strong showing at the All England Club appeared possible, but Kvitova fell to Paula Badosa in the third round. It was a similar story two months later, when an inspired run to the Cincinnati final was followed by a sobering defeat to Jessica Pegula at the US Open. 

Yet Kvitova has always marched to the beat of her own drum, and she continued to post results that suggested something big might be just around the corner. She defeated Rybakina in Adelaide earlier this year and saved four match points to gain a measure of vengeance against Pegula last month in Indian Wells, where she was a quarter-finalist for the first time in seven years. In Miami, where she has thrived on the quicker conditions this year, that big breakthrough finally arrived in the shape of a ninth WTA 1000 crown and a 30th career title, second only to Venus Williams among active players. 

“I love the game,” said Kvitova. “I’ve had a lot of ups, that’s always been the motivation to have them again. I think this is the best feeling what you can have, winning a final as I did today. That’s [what] I love the most, the winning feeling of it.”

For the past month, that winning feeling has belonged to Rybakina, who claimed her biggest title since last summer’s Wimbledon victory at Indian Wells, defeating Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka, the top two players in the world, along the way. Against Kvitova, though, the world No 7 must have felt like she was playing in front of a mirror, the first-strike tennis that is her métier reflected right back at her. It looked that way from the outside, too, the pair matching each other serve for devastating serve, bullet return for bullet return.

Predictably, rallies were at a premium. The first exchange of any notable length arrived in the ninth game, Kvitova prising a backhand error from Rybakina on the 10th shot of a meaty back-and-forth to bring up three break points. Fittingly, it also brought up the most notable moment of what had, up to that point, been a rather prosaic spectacle, Rybakina missing a first serve before another brief rally ended with her drilling a backhand long. Yet things are rarely straightforward where Kvitova is concerned, and in the next game Rybakina caught the Czech at her feet with a deep return to convert her first break point of the match. 

With an improbable exchange of breaks concluded, a tiebreak that had always seemed inevitable quickly came around. That prospect will have held few fears for Rybakina who, remarkably, had won all seven of her previous tiebreaks this year. But there is little that Kvitova hasn’t seen in her time on the tour and, over the course of the titanic 22-minute struggle that ensued, she was sustained by the knowledge that all such streaks end eventually.

“Before our final I read, yesterday, that Elena didn’t lose a tiebreak yet this season,” said Kvitova. “So, you know, I had a break up. I was like, ‘OK, good. I’m going to serve it out.’ And boom, it was a tiebreak. I was like, ‘Oh, very nice. What are you going to do now?’ 

“But I was telling myself that she has to lose, at some point, one tiebreak in the season. So I was going to try.”

Try she did. Serving with intelligence, variety and precision, and holding her nerve brilliantly to stave off five set points, Kvitova finally sealed the set on the 30th point of the breaker –which was also her own fifth set point. It was a desperate tug-of-war, the momentum constantly shifting back and forth, every moment potentially pivotal. 

Arguably the most significant passage came when, to Kvitova’s evident dismay, Rybakina clipped the back edge of the baseline as she fended off the Czech’s second set point. Many a match has turned on less, and hearts were in mouths among her vocal supporters when Kvitova, whose scepticism about the electronic line call was palpable even after it was replayed on the big screen, went on to net a forehand. That brought up a second set point for Rybakina, but Kvitova found a wonderful, swinging southpaw second serve to set up an easy winner.  

“For sure the tiebreak decided today all the match,” said Kvitova. “I think it was the longest one I ever played in my life, and it was like, if I didn’t serve [well], I couldn’t be there.

“It was like one mini break and then [an]other one, and we just kept going on the serves. I totally lost the control of who is serving, who is not, when we are changing sides and so on. 

“It was really the hardest tiebreak I played probably.”

After coming out on the wrong end of such a tight set in what was her 12th match in 22 days, it was perhaps inevitable that Rybakina would experience a lull. Kvitova was quick to press home the advantage, rifling a backhand return winner to break for 2-0 before leaning across the net to put away a short ball as she held to consolidate her advantage. Rybakina fruitlessly questioned the legality of the shot, but it was to be her last real gesture of defiance. It has nonetheless been an extraordinary run by the Kazakh, especially after a faltering start to the tournament as she adjusted to the conditions and an understandable battle against fatigue.

“It was a really tough first set, and I think it made a big difference starting the second,” said Rybakina. “I’m just happy with two weeks overall. Not so happy with the second set, of course, but I think it’s still a positive one month here in the US.”

That sentiment will be shared by Kvitova, who will return to the top 10 on Monday as a result of her efforts over the past month. Could she also return to the grand slam winners’ circle in due course? On this form, it is not out of the question. Once again, Wimbledon promises to be interesting.

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Earlier this month in Indian Wells, where Rybakina won her first WTA 1000 title, she achieved the rare distinction of beating the top two in consecutive rounds, dismissing Iga Swiatek in the semi-finals before avenging her defeat to Aryna Sabalenka in January’s Australian Open final. On Thursday night, the Kazakh completed a clean sweep of victories over the top three, defeating Jessica Pegula 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 to reach the final of the Miami Open for the first time. 

Rybakina, who has now won 13 straight matches, stands on the brink of becoming only the fifth woman to complete the “sunshine double” of Indian Wells and Miami, a feat that would put her in illustrious company. Since Indian Wells became part of the women’s tour in 1989, only Steffi Graf, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Iga Swiatek have won both titles in the same year. All are former No 1s and multiple grand slam champions. 

If she is to join them, Rybakina will first need to find a way past another future Hall of Famer in Petra Kvitova, who ended Sorana Cirstea’s brilliant sunshine stretch with a 7-5, 6-4 victory on Friday. Kvitova, who recovered from 5-2 down in the opening set, denying the Romanian two set points with a pair of big forehands, was a straight-sets winner over Rybakina when the pair last met, three months ago in Adelaide. Rybakina, who won their only other meeting, in Ostrava last year, knows it won’t be easy.

“I played against Petra in the beginning of the year and she played really well, but it was much faster courts there,” said Rybakina. 

“I think it’s going to be different [when] I play against her again, but for sure it’s a lot physically, because here the courts are quite slow, especially after rain. When it’s that humid, it’s not easy.”  

Having racked up 11 wins in 20 days, the auspices are nonetheless encouraging for Rybakina. She has dealt well with the fatigue that afflicted her following the quick turnaround from Indian Wells, and will face Kvitova well rested after completing her rain-interrupted semi-final a day earlier than the 32-year-old Czech, who has been playing catch-up ever since her midweek meeting with Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova was rained off. 

Rybakina has rarely been at her best tennis in Miami, but she has shown admirable tenacity and resourcefulness. She came through a pair of tough three-setters in the early rounds, battling past Anna Kalinskaya before saving a match point against Paula Badosa, and while her trademark consistency on serve has proved elusive at times, her ace count has been in double figures in every round. The last player to hit 10 or more aces across five straight matches at the same event was Serena Williams at Wimbledon in 2016. Even more impressive, though, has been Rybakina’s ablity to come up with those big serves at the moment of greatest need. 

“In these important moments like 30-30, 30-40 or something like this, I was serving [an] ace,” said Rybakina after her quarter-final win over Italy’s Martina Trevisan. “So I think it’s just important to find these moments and to push, and for now [I’m] doing well even being not super fresh.” 

Timely aggression was certainly a key theme against Pegula, who broke three times in the opening set and twice served for it. On each occasion, Rybakina stuck to her guns, commanding the rallies with her forehand and making her way into the net whenever the opportunity arose. It was a similar story in the second set, where the Kazakh trailed 4-2 before reeling off four straight games.

“I started [to become] a bit more aggressive, because I knew that if it’s going to go to the third set, it’s going to be much more difficult,” said Rybakina. “So I maybe risked a bit more, even in the end of the second set.”

It is a philosophy Kvitova shares. The Czech looked to be in a deep hole after hooking a backhand wide in the sixth game to go a break down against Cirstea. High on confidence after the brilliant win over Sabalenka that propelled her to her first WTA 1000 semi-final for a decade, Cirstea consolidated the advantage with a stunning forehand winner and an ace, and in Kvitova’s next service game she stood within two points of the set at 0-30. 

But the two-time Wimbledon champion, continuing a period of resurgence that began when she reached the final in Cincinnati last August, came out swinging, forcing her way back into the game with a flurry of big forehands before sealing it with an ace. More big hitting denied Cirstea two set points as she served for the set at 40-15, and suddenly the contest turned on its head, an early break in the second set handing Kvitova an advantage she would not relinquish.

“I have to say she played quite well,” said Cirstea. “Love thirty, 5-2, she served really good there. It was new balls, it was very quick. Every time we had new balls, she was swinging more. It was very hard to control.”

Now Kvitova must face a kindred spirit, a player happy to fight fire with fire.

Should Rybakina prevail, she will rise to a career-high ranking of sixth. More significantly, she will also move to the top of the WTA race rankings, perhaps offering a truer reflection of where she currently stands in the global pecking order.

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Though she has struggled to produce her best in the California desert, Sakkari, the sixth seed, has made gladiatorial progress through the bottom half of the draw. The tone was set when she overcame an error-strewn start to her opener against Shelby Rogers, recovering from a set down to claim a first win in four meetings with the American, and she subsequently went the distance against both Anhelina Kalinina – another player against whom she had a losing record – and Karolina Pliskova, the Czech former world No 1, who beat her 6-1, 6-2 last month in Dubai. 

For Sakkari, it has been a tournament for conquering demons, for living to fight another day, for finding a way without ever quite finding form.

In Kvitova, however, the Greek world No 7 faced a player who bows to no one in her ability to navigate a crisis. The Czech not only saved four match points against Jessica Pegula in the last 16, winning a dramatic final-set tiebreak 13-11 to leave the American third seed musing on how she would “never get used to the ups and downs of this sport”, but also bounced back from a first-set whitewash at the hands of Jelena Ostapenko a round earlier. In fact, before facing Sakkari, Kvitova had won seven of her previous eight three-setters. 

No wonder the Greek, who recovered from a set and a break down, hailed “a bloody good win” after reaching the third WTA 1000 semi-final of her career.

“I’m just telling myself, ‘Look, you’re not playing your best tennis and you’re still winning and beating amazing players,’” said Sakkari after her seventh long-haul victory of the season. “I mean, my draw was, I would say, bloody tough.

“By just surviving and just finding ways, eventually I’m sure that my game is going to get better. I really want to see how it’s going to be when I start feeling good with my game.

“I think it’s been a very, very good week. I’m gaining a lot of confidence out of that, because it’s very easy when you win matches by playing good, but it’s not easy to beat good players by playing this way.”

It is harder still when you begin with a shank and a trio of unforced errors to lose your opening service game to love, as Sakkari did here. Kvitova’s fast start afforded her the freedom to continue in the free-swinging vein that propelled her to victory against Pegula. In the seventh game the 33-year-old broke to love for a second time, punishing Sakkari for a faltering performance on serve. The Greek made barely a third of her first serves in the opener and, although she narrowed a 5-2 deficit by winning two straight games, even that modest success was largely down to a loose passage of play from Kvitova.

With Sakkari overpressing, Kvitova seized the initiative early in the second set, pouncing on a short second serve to break before holding to consolidate. Had Sakkari not found a big plus-one forehand to stave off a point for a double break, her challenge would almost certainly have been extinguished. Instead, encouraged that another act of escapology might be possible, she began to work her way back into contention. Her serving improved markedly. Four break points were fended off. Then, with Kvitova serving at 5-6 and looking increasingly ragged off the ground, Sakkari doggedly worked her way back into a game that the Czech had led 40-0. She fashioned a set point, Kvitova missed a forehand, and suddenly the contest turned on its head, Sakkari’s superior consistency down the stretch proving decisive as Kvitova finished the match with 52 unforced errors. 

“The first set and a half, I felt like an amateur,” said Sakkari. “She was playing very, very good. I just didn’t know what to do.

“But then I just told myself to keep trying and keep fighting. Eventually I started playing better, which was a good thing. It was a lifesaver.”

Given that she faces Aryna Sabalenka next, Sakkari will need to find her A game quicky if she is to repeat last year’s run to the final. Sabalenka, the second seed, saw off Coco Gauff 6-4, 6-0 to claim her 16th win of the season, and only her second against the sixth-seeded American, who had won three of their four previous meetings coming into the contest. 

As Sabalenka explained, she is a different player since winning her first grand slam title at January’s Australian Open.

“I think I’m more calm on court, and I’m able to control my emotions, which helps me to stay in the game no matter what, and just fight for every point, without losing my mind and without giving easy points to opponents,” said Sabalenka.

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It is four years since the Frenchwoman compiled a 13-match winning streak to claim back-to-back WTA 1000 titles in Wuhan and Beijing, and while the injuries and loss of form that followed that career zenith took a toll on her self-belief, they also brought perspective. 

That quality was firmly in evidence in Cincinnati, where Garcia defeated Petra Kvitotva 6-2, 6-4 to claim her third title at the highest level of women’s tennis outside the majors, and afterwards thanked the locals simply for knowing her name.   

“You know tennis very well,” said Garcia, “so it’s a lot of respect you are showing us. Sometimes people ask for autographs, but they don’t know who we are.”

Within the game, Garcia has always commanded respect. As for recognition, the 28-year-old has become impossible to ignore. With her biggest victory of a stellar summer that has brought a tour-leading 27 main draw wins – and a trio of titles on grass, clay and hard courts – Garcia claimed a slice of history, becoming the first qualifier to win a 1000-level event. Ranked 75th just two months ago, she will head to the US Open as the new world No 17 and an outsider for the title. 

No less impressive than the scale of Garcia’s success is the style in which it has been achieved. One of the finest exponents of first-strike tennis in the game, aggression and athleticism are at the heart of everything she does. 

Powerful and accurate with her serve, which frequently touches speeds in excess of 115mph, Garcia is barely less lethal off the return, a shot that she boldly takes on from well inside the baseline. It is a high-risk, high-reward style that requires immaculate timing and, crucially, confidence.

“Obviously, playing that game style is not always working,” said Garcia, who leads the tour for aces this season . “You have to have a true belief in it. If not, mistakes are coming quite quickly. You have to go 100%. 

“Sometimes I doubted it, because it was not always working. You try to forget about what people are saying, but it’s always coming to your ears one way or another, and sometimes from people who are well known, things like that. So it always affects you.

“I doubted, and then I did it kind of half and half, and it was not working any more. You try to do less unforced errors, you go back, but then you do less winners because you are less inside the court. So it’s not a straight way. It’s not like you know what you have to do. 

“Times goes and you realise it’s not working the other way, and you try to change, you try to get people around you who believe in this game style.”

Among those people is Bertrand Perret, the experienced French coach who joined Garcia’s team at the end of last season following a brief spell in which she trained under the Spanish veteran Gabriel Urpi. Garcia had previously been coached solely by her father, Louis Paul, an arrangement that some within the sport questioned because he has no background in the professional game. Perret, however, has reinforced the family’s conviction that Garcia was on the right path all along, encouraging her to remain committed to attack.

It is an approach that Kvitova, who has enjoyed a resurgence of her own this summer, will recognise only too well. The Czech, who won her first title in more than a year on the grass courts of Eastbourne in June, and forged a path to the Cincinnati final after surviving a match point in the opening round, has frequently been at her potent best over the past week. 

Kvitova’s naturally aggressive style, perfectly adapted to the quick conditions in Mason, Ohio, carried her past Jabeur and the in-form Madison Keys. But Garcia proved a challenge too far for the 32-year-old as she struggled with an injury to her left leg, and a rival at the peak of her powers.

“There was a song, This Girl is on Fire,” said Kvitova, referring to the Alicia Keys hit played by the stadium DJ after the match. “I was like, ‘This is the best description of her.’

“She is the kind of player who can beat everybody, but also, when she doesn’t have the health confidence and [isn’t] playing the best, because she is playing very risky – I know it from my side actually, as well – she can lose as well with some other players, which normally she could beat.  

“It’s my own experience. I think that when she is on, she is on. We saw it the whole tournament this week.”

Kvitova also spoke of the difficulties posed by a rival whose offensive style denies her opponents time and rhythm. Those challenges were apparent from the outset. In the opening game, a signature early return from Garcia caught the former Wimbledon champion flat-footed on the baseline, producing an error that she compounded with a double fault. Presented with a chance to reclaim the break immediately, Kvitova twice sent returns flying beyond the baseline. The pattern of the contest was set.  

The numbers tell their own story. While Kvitova saved just one of the four break points she faced, Garcia fended off all eight. Her most notable act of defiance came in the sixth game of the second set. 

Kvitova, who had once again dropped serve early after being caught out by the depth and quality of Garcia’s returning, and was struggling to move freely after taking a medical timeout, had decided to go for broke. Her abandon earned her a 0-40 advantage on Garcia’s serve, but the Frenchwoman responded magnificently, producing a pair of aces before absorbing a heavy and sustained attack on her backhand. After a couple of deuces, another ace carried her to game point, where a heavy first serve set up a devastating swing volley. There would be no way back for Kvitova.

The thoughts of both women will now turn to the US Open. Kvitova’s immediate concern will be recovering from her injury. Garcia, meanwhile, is looking to the future with a renewed sense of clarity.

“I think my pathway is [established] for my game, and my mentality is way clearer. We made it clear which way I have to play, which direction I have to go. So when I step on court, I know what game style I have to play, and I know what I have to do.”

Few will relish the prospect of facing her. 

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Nothing liberates a player quite like winning from match point down, which is why so many go on to win tournaments after surviving a brush with defeat, swinging with abandon as they make the most of what feels like a free hit. 

This year alone, Jelena Ostapenko, Leylah Fernandez and Caroline Garcia have all won titles after saving a match point at some stage, and Petra Kvitova could become the next addition to that list after battling past former champion Madison Keys in Cincinnati to reach her second final in eight weeks. 

Kvitova came within a point of defeat in a gruelling win over Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann in the opening round, and the 28th-ranked Czech was once again required to draw on her powers of recovery as she fought back from a set down to claim an emotional win over the home favourite. 

“It’s like a second chance, or that you were almost gone and now you are still here, and playing in the draw,” said Kvitova following her 6-7 (6-8), 6-4, 6-3 victory. “I’m glad that this happened to me. I don’t think that it’s ever happened to me, so that’s nice, to have this experience even at my age.

“It’s a big boost for me, for sure, after the season that I had. I know I won Eastbourne [in June], but it was on the grass, my favourite grass. It was pretty fast, faster than Wimbledon.

“So I’m really glad for it. The first round was really tight, down from the match points. I think always these matches are important for the tournament, for the confidence as well.”

The former Wimbledon champion, who has rarely prospered in the heat and humidity of a Cincinnati summer, will be equally encouraged by further evidence of the resilience she showed against Teichmann. Keys has been in blistering form this week, beating world No 1 Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, the Wimbledon champion, in successive rounds, and the American’s burgeoning confidence was evident as she raced into an early lead.

Kvitova was twice required to stave off points for a double break that would have left her trailing 4-1 in the first set. She worked hard to level at 3-3, and later went on to recover from 5-2 down in the first-set tiebreak, but a blazing off-backhand winner from Keys brought up a second set point from which the Czech, for once, was unable to recover. 

Things are rarely straightforward between two of the finest exponents of first-strike tennis in the women’s game, however, and so it proved again as Kvitova built on early breaks in each of the next two sets to claim her fifth win in nine meetings with Keys. 

“I came back somehow, and the tiebreak was just very, very close,” said Kvitova. “We always have battles, like three sets.

“I just stayed there and tried to play until the end of every point. 

“It was an incredible battle.”

Kvitova will face another battle in Sunday’s final, where Garcia awaits. The Frenchwoman’s renascent form continued with a rain-interrupted 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 victory over Aryna Sabalenka. 

Garcia, who becomes the first woman ever to reach a WTA 1000 final after coming through qualifying, raced through the opening set before the first downpour of the afternoon forced a suspension of play. Her level dipped after the delay, but she recovered her rhythm at the start of the decider and ensured there was no repeat when the players were once again forced off at 3-1 in the decider. 

With 26 wins since the start of June, including titles on grass and clay, the former world No 4 has been the summer’s form player.

“No one expected it, that’s for sure,” said Garcia. “It’s a long way to come from qualies.”

In the men’s draw, Borna Coric defeated ninth seed Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-4 to reach his first ATP Masters final since 2018. The Croatian, a former world No 12, is currently ranked 152 after undergoing shoulder surgery last year, but could break the top 30 next week should he follow up his win over Norrie, who looked uncharacteristically fatigued after his epic win over Carlos Alcaraz the previous evening.

If Coric is to put a title-winning seal on a week that has already brought wins over Rafael Nadal and Felix Auger-Aliassime, he will need to find a way past Stefanos Tsitsipas, who came through 7-6 (8-6), 3-6, 6-3 against Daniil Medvedev, the world No 1. 

Tsitsipas, who saved a set point in the opener, had won only two of his previous nine meetings with Medvedev, and looked to be in trouble again when he fell 5-0 behind in the second set. But the Greek fourth seed recovered to avoid the whitewash and held on determinedly – and at times brilliantly – in the decider after Medvedev, distracted by fireworks outside the stadium, hit four double faults to concede a break in the sixth game. 

“He got really tight, I think, with the first serves, wasn’t putting a lot of first serves in, gave me a double fault in the last few games of the third set,” said Tsitsipas. “I felt like the ball wasn’t really flying off his racquet. 

“I felt like he was trying too hard, and that’s when I knew that I pushed him there, and it was something that I did over many consecutive rallies, a lot of physical effort. I knew that was my opportunity to go and strike.”

Tsitsipas anticipates a battle in Sunday’s final, which will be his first in Cincinnati.

“I’m prepared for it,” he said. “I know it’s not an easy task playing against him. He’s coming back from an injury, he’s playing great tennis, and he’s going to work very hard for it.”  

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But while the result and the opponent were the same, the circumstances could not have been more different. Boulter’s 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-4 win, which takes her through to the third round of a grand slam for the first time at the age of 25, came two days after the death of her maternal grandmother Jill Gartshore. 

If Boulter’s first win over Pliskova, a finalist at Wimbledon last year, was grounded in tenacity and self-belief, the second was forged in grief for the loss of a beloved family member who helped her take her first steps in the game.  

“It was a very, very tough match for me, for many aspects,” said Boulter, who recalled how her grandmother took her to play at her local club when she was four. “I’m super proud of myself for getting through today against a player like that, having already played her last week. 

“I also had expectations going out there, and I managed to control my emotions very well and played a really good match. Ultimately it came down to the wire and I think I stayed really strong in the tough moments.”

In an emotional on-court interview, Boulter earlier dedicated the win to her grandmother, moving TV chef Dame Mary Berry and many other Centre Court onlookers to tears. 

“I’ve got no words rights now, I’m literally shaking, the crowd was unbelievable, so thank you so much for getting me through that,” said Boulter. “I’m going to get emotional. My gran passed away two days ago, and I’d just like to dedicate that to her today.”

Boulter’s journey to this moment has been filled with adversity. A precociously talented junior who reached the final of the prestigious Orange Bowl event in 2011, she contracted chronic fatigue syndrome three years later and for a time was left virtually bedridden. Boulter eventually returned and, in 2019, broke into the top 100 for the first time – only to suffer a spinal stress fracture on Fed Cup duty that kept her out for nine months. The pandemic delayed her comeback further, and only now is she showing the form of which she is capable. It has been a long road.

“I have had to build momentum and some strength physically,” said Boulter, who is currently ranked 118th. “It’s a huge part of my game. I finally have been able to put that work in. It’s started to pay off. I’ve got a lot more work to do, and hopefully I can keep doing that.”

Boulter, who grew up in the village of Woodhouse Eaves in Leicester, comes from a close-knit family with a strong background in the game. Her grandmother was an accomplished regional player, while her mother Sue is a former county player and coach. Boulter said her grandfather Brian, who was present alongside her mother in the players’ box, had been careful to keep news of her grandmother’s passing from her until after her first-round win over Clara Burel.

“I actually had a phone call from my grandpa the night before I played,” she said. “He didn’t mention anything, but he kind of gave me the inkling that it might be coming. I didn’t know anything until after my first match, where my mum basically pulled me aside and told me.”

Boulter later watched her boyfriend, the 19th-seeded Australian Alex De Minaur, defeat Britain’s Jack Draper 5-7, 7-6 (7-0), 6-2, 6-3.

In another contest rich in emotion, former semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens was defeated 7-5, 6-4 by Simona Halep in the final singles match of her career. Halep, the 16th seed and 2019 title-winner, embraced Flipkens warmly afterwards, before the tearful 36-year-old stooped to kiss the Court 2 grass. Flipkens, who reached a career-high ranking of 13th, led 5-2 in the opening set and 4-1 in the second.

“For everything there is an end in life, and I’m about to start now a new chapter,” said Flipkens. “It’s a special feeling. I would have dreamed for a goodbye like today. I was really close to even taking a set from a champion like Simona. 

“It’s just a perfect way for me to end.”

Iga Swiatek extended her winning streak to 37 matches, although not before dropping a set for only the seventh time since her unbeaten run began in late February. Swiatek, the world No 1, defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove of the Netherlands, a lucky loser ranked 138th, 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

“Grass is pretty tricky for me, I’m not going to lie,” said the Polish world No 1, who will play Alizé Cornet in round three. “I guess you can see that I’m not playing maybe as efficiently as on other surfaces. Basically, my confidence is getting better overall. But this tournament is tricky and I’m still feeling out how to play the best game here.”

Petra Kvitova, the champion in 2011 and 2014, survived a late fightback by Ana Bogdan, who trailed by a set and 5-1 before reeling off five games in a row. Kvitova, who won in Eastbourne last week, came through 6-1, 7-6 (7-5) and will now face fourth seed Paula Badosa, who Irina Bara of Romania 6-3, 6-2.  

“I think it was a great match until 5-1, 5-2,” said Kvitova. “Suddenly I felt so exhausted from the games I had. I don’t know, it was just tough to describe. I got a little bit tighter and she just went for it a little bit more. She didn’t miss. It was really tough to close it out.”

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Poised, positive and serving bombs on the grass courts of Eastbourne, just as she has been all week, Kvitova defeated defending champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-3, 6-2 to claim her first title on the east Sussex coast. 

The victory eclipsed the Czech’s previous best performance at Eastbourne, which came 11 years ago when she was beaten in the final by Marion Bartoli before going on to win the first of her two Wimbledon titles. Among active players, only fellow former Wimbledon champions Serena and Venus Williams have more than Kvitova’s five grass-court titles. 

On this form, a third victory at the All England Club is by no means unthinkable. It is not often that Ostapenko gets outgunned, but the powerful ninth-seeded Latvian had no answer to a player whose swinging southpaw serve, powerful, flat groundstrokes and first-strike mentality are tailor-made for grass-court tennis. 

“I know that Jelena is playing well here on the grass, defending champion, so I was really prepared for the fast, aggressive game she played,” said Kvitova, who went unbroken at Devonshire Park from the quarter-finals onwards.

“I knew I had to put her second serve [back in court], especially, and I was just going for it, trying to play aggressive from the first point, so that she didn’t have time on [the ball]. I think it was working very nicely. I had some points which I think I should have gone for a little bit more, or played it to the other side, but overall I can’t complain.” 

It was certainly a closer affair than the scoreline might suggest. Ostapenko battled tigerishly to overcome an erratic start, twice staving off points to avoid falling a double break behind, and after dropping serve again early in the second set she very nearly hit back immediately. Kvitova had to serve her way out of all sorts of trouble but, once she had seen off five break points to consolidate her advantage at 3-1, the momentum shifted decisively in her favour. 

“If felt like if, in some moments, I was playing a little bit more consistently, and not missing [so] much, the match could always be much closer or turn the other way,” said Ostapenko, who had particular cause to rue a forehand return she screwed into the alley on her fifth break point of that vital fourth game. 

There was still time for a final act of defiance from the 25-year-old, who bounced back from match point down with two consecutive aces and a forehand winner to hold in the penultimate game. From there, though, Kvitova served out confidently to claim her first title since winning on hard courts in Qatar in March of last year. 

Kvitova, 32, has not been beyond the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2014, the year of her last title triumph. Seeded 25th, she faces Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the opening round. Should she make it through to a projected third-round meeting with Paula Badosa, the fourth-ranked Spaniard who was stunned by Britain’s Jodie Burrage in round two of Eastbourne, she would be a notional underdog but an instinctive favourite.

Kvitova finds herself in a fascinating quarter of the draw in SW19, one that includes the returning Serena Williams, last year’s beaten finalist Karolina Pliskova, and former champion Simona Halep. Should she somehow navigate a route to the semi-final, a potential Centre Court showdown with top seed Iga Swiatek would make for fascinating viewing. Kvitova, though, is not getting carried away.

“It’s a different tournament, a different week, and in tennis this is very tricky,” she said. “You just have to forget what was, and focus on what is next.”

In the men’s final, Taylor Fritz defeated Maxime Cressy 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-5) to claim his second Eastbourne title. The Californian, who won the biggest title of his career in Indian Wells earlier this year, did not face a break point throughout. 

“There is something about this place,” said Fritz, the 2019 champion, on court afterwards. “It is where I won my first title and when I got here on the first day this week, I felt that I was playing so much better than before. This place has a special spot in my heart.” 

At the Bad Homburg Open in Germany, Caroline Garcia of France trailed by a set and a break before fighting back to beat former US Open champion Bianca Andreescu 6-7 (5-7), 6-4, 6-4.

In Mallorca, Stefanos Tsitsipas bounced back from his defeat against Andy Murray in Stuttgart last week to claim the first grass-court title of his career. Tsitsipas, the world No 6, defeated Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-2).

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With an imperious 6-3, 6-3 victory over Petra Kvitova, Swiatek extended her unbeaten run to 15 matches and moved into the semi-finals of the Miami Open, where she is bidding to lift her third successive WTA 1000 title and, following her recent victory in Indian Wells, become only the fourth woman in history to complete the “sunshine double”.

The Pole, whose record of three losses from 27 outings this season is the best on the WTA Tour, has now won 16 sets in a row, a run that dates back to her last-16 win over Daria Kasatkina in Doha last month. She has dropped serve just twice in Miami, and against the hard-hitting Kvitova she did not face a single break point.

They are statistics that speak of emphatic dominance. 

More impressive than mere numbers, however, is the development of Swiatek’s game under Tomasz Witkorowski, the experienced Polish coach who joined her corner in December following a successful five-year partnership with Piotr Sierzputowski. Her willingness to push up inside the baseline and trade blows with Kvitova was merely the latest evidence of the increased aggression that has reaped dividends for the 20-year-old of late. Before this year, she had never been beyond the fourth round of a major hard-court event. Now she is through to her fifth semi-final in three months on the hard stuff – a run that includes a last-four appearance at the Australian Open – and has a third successive WTA 1000 title in her sights. 

Whisper it quietly, but a player better known for her exploits on the red clay of Roland Garros, where she won the title two years ago, may just bid farewell to the spring hard-court swing a tad wistfully. Given that Swiatek is also a former junior Wimbledon champion, it looks like the search for a multi-surface successor to the retired Ashleigh Barty – whose three grand slam wins were achieved on clay, grass and hard – could just be over before it even began. Whether she leaves Miami with another title or not, Swiatek will enter the next phase of the season full of self-belief and eager to sustain the momentum she has established.

“I want to use the confidence I built since the beginning of Doha,” said Swiatek, who will now face Jessica Pegula after Paula Badosa, the fifth seed, retired with a viral illness five games into her quarter-final against the American.  

“I think I’m on a roll, and I want to use that. Having that kind of streak got pretty tricky, but I’m pretty glad that I can play well, that I’m healthy, and that I can compete against players like Petra. She’s a legend… it was a real honour to play against her.”

There was no such cap-doffing on court, however, where Swiatek met the big-serving Czech on her own terms by throwing down back-to-back aces in the opening game. It set the tone for a near-flawless exhibition of serving, which the Pole backed up with hugely impressive play off the ground and a return game that at times bordered on the disdainful. Absorbing Kvitova’s power with the kind of impossibly low knee bends once synonymous with her compatriot Agnieszka Radwanska – no doubt more than just coincidence, given that Witkorowski once coached the former world No 2 – Swiatek retained a position high on the baseline throughout, refusing to be forced back by the two-time Wimbledon champion’s superior weight of shot. Unable to dictate and limited to barely a quarter of the points behind her second serve by an opponent who, astonishingly, has won over 58% of her return games at the tournament, Kvitova never came close to finding the consistency required to trouble the younger woman.   

“From the beginning, I knew that I had to keep up with the pace because she plays really fast,” said Swiatek. “I wanted to stay low on my legs. The first serve was the key. I don’t know if I had many winners, but basically I wanted to build up positive energy from her mistakes. I’m glad that I stayed focused and I did the tactics from A to Z.”

From letters to numbers, Swiatek seems to have all the bases covered.  

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Logic points to a Barty victory in New York. She’s the world No 1 and newly crowned Wimbledon champion. She leads the WTA Tour for match wins this season, claiming five titles on three different surfaces. She has arguably the most complete game of any woman out there. Surely she’s a shoo-in for US Open champion? Well, not necessarily. No player has done the Wimbledon-New York double since Serena Williams in 2012. In fact, since last autumn’s French Open – a sequence that includes four slams and an Olympics – no player has even made two major semi-finals. If Barty is to buck that trend, she’ll have to progress beyond the last 16 at Flushing Meadows for the first time in her career. She did exactly that at the All England Club, of course. But her draw in New York is about as tough as they come.

What she says: “This is a tournament that thrives with the energy and I can’t wait to get started.”

2) Aryna Sabalenka

If firepower alone won grand slam titles, Sabalenka would have a hatful by now. Nobody smokes the ball harder than the big-hitting Belarusian, but there’s a reason why Barty is the world No 1. A little variety never goes amiss and, as the Aussie has shown, the ability to absorb power can be just as important as the capacity to dish it out. But even in the absence of a contingency plan, Sabalenka is heading in the right direction. Having finally progressed beyond the fourth round of a major for the first time with her run to the Wimbledon semi-finals, she is up to a career-high ranking of No 2. An elusive first slam feels closer than ever, but a tough draw – she may have to get past Tamara Zidansek, Danielle Collins, Elise Mertens and Barbora Krejcikova just to make a semi-final against defending champion Naomi Osaka – suggests it might not come in New York. 

What she says: “The goal is, as always, to win it. I think everyone has the same goal. But after Wimbledon I just understand that I don’t have to think about win it or final or be in the second week. I just have to enjoy my game.”

3) Naomi Osaka

In a necessarily selfish sport, Osaka takes a refreshingly broad view of the world. The 23-year-old pays heed to what’s going on around her, and is prepared to act. Last year in Cincinnati, she announced her withdrawal from the tournament in protest at the shooting of Jacob Blake, prompting the entire tennis treadmill to close down for the day in solidarity. At the US Open, she emerged as a powerful advocate for racial justice, using face masks to highlight police brutality and other acts of violence against black people. More recently, Osaka donated her Cincinnati prize money to relief efforts following the Haiti earthquake. For a naturally introverted character, it’s a lot to take on, and things finally came to a head at the French Open, where she revealed following her controversial withdrawal that she has suffered from depression. Only she will know how far her activism has compromised her tennis, but Osaka subsequently missed Wimbledon and has not looked quite the same since. Now might be the time for the defending champion to forget outside distractions and put herself first for once. If she does, a third US Open title in four years is well within her grasp.

What she says: “Whatever I feel, I’ll say or do it. I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing.”

4) Karolina Pliskova

Consistency has been a long time coming for the 2016 finalist, but the days when the rangy Czech could just as easily fall in the first round of any given tournament as win the title seem, finally, to be behind her. Defeated by Barty at Wimbledon in the second major final of her career, she immediately looked ahead to New York, and another chance to shake off her unwanted label as the best active player without a grand slam title to her name. It all points to an improved mindset under her new coach Sascha Bajin. Back up to world No 4 after briefly slipping out of the top 10 for the first time in five years before Wimbledon, the 29-year-old beat Sabalenka for the second time in two months to reach the final in Montreal, and followed up with a run to the semi-finals in Cincinnati. Still a major champion waiting to happen.

What she says: “I’m excited to be back in the city, in New York, because last year was not really like New York. So some shopping, of course, and then back to business.”

5) Elina Svitolina

Married life clearly agrees with the Ukrainian. No sooner had she tied the knot with Gael Monfils than she battled her way to an Olympic bronze medal, the most notable prize of a career that has too often flattered amid the daily grind of the WTA Tour only to deceive at the majors. Svitolina warmed up for Flushing Meadows, where she was a semi-finalist two years ago, with a confidence-bolstering title run in Chicago. Drawn in Osaka’s quarter, she is one to watch.

What she says: “I came [to Chicago] to get some confidence, play some good matches, and in the end it happened like that. I’m looking forward to New York.”

6) Bianca Andreescu

If the champion of two years ago had the physical endurance to match her deep reservoir of talent, her progress from a section that includes Petra Kvitova, Maria Sakkari and Jelena Ostapenko could almost be taken for granted. As it is, the young Canadian may have her work cut out to avoid a fifth first-round exit in six tournaments against Wimbledon quarter-finalist Viktorija Golubic.

What she says: “I’m really trying to focus on process and long-term, because I’m also only 21. I want to be able to do what 21-year-olds do. I feel like in 2019, it was just tennis, tennis, tennis.”

7) Iga Swiatek

It’s tough to say where Swiatek is at right now. After a disappointing loss to Maria Sakkari at Roland Garros, where she was the defending champion and joint favourite for the title, the Pole bounced back to reach the last 16 at Wimbledon for the first time. She was beaten by Ons Jabeur in SW19 and fell to the Tunisian again in the opening round of Cincinnati, her only match of the North American hard-court swing. Danger lurks in a section that includes Cincinnati finalist Jil Teichmann and Cleveland champion Anett Kontaveit. A projected quarter-final showdown with Barty is by no means a given for a player who has never previously been beyond round three in New York.

What she says: “Try, fail, learn, repeat … I’m looking forward to the next challenge.”

8) Barbora Krejcikova 

A first grand slam title at the French Open, an Olympic gold medal in doubles, a debut in the world’s top 10. What a season it has been for a player ranked outside the top 100 this time last year. Demonstrated her hard-court pedigree with victory at the Prague Open and a solid run in Cincinnati, where she fell to Barty in the last eight. Seeded to mark her debut in the main draw of the singles with a last-eight showdown against Sabalenka. Expect her to keep the appointment.

What she says: “My debut is coming, the US Open is knocking on my door!”

9) Garbiñe Muguruza

A fine start to the season has drifted into mediocrity for the former French Open and Wimbledon champion. At her best, she is more than capable of winning the only major where she has yet to make the final. At her worst, she could go out in the opening round, where she faces a potentially tricky test against former quarter-finalist Donna Vekic. Assuming the Spaniard survives that test, former world No 1 Victoria Azarenka may lie in wait ahead of a possible last 16 clash with Krejcikova, her three-set conqueror in Cincinnati. Will have to put in the hard miles to reach the fourth round and equal her best previous showing.

What she says: “Well done is better than well said.”

10) Petra Kvitova

Twice a quarter-finalist at the US Open, Kvitova has endured a chequered season, losing early at all three majors. A good run in Cincinnati, where she racked up straight-sets wins against Madison Keys, Veronika Kudermetova and Jabeur before retiring from her quarter-final against Angie Kerber with a stomach issue, offers hope that better things may lie ahead. Here’s hoping the big lights inspire her.     

What she says: “These streets will make you feel brand new.”

Best of the rest

Camila Giorgi, high on confidence after winning the biggest title of her career at the Canadian Open, was the one player every seed would have hoped to avoid in the opening round. Simona Halep, who has played just two matches since returning from her summer injury layoff, drew the short straw. It could be a tough day at the office for the 12th-seeded Romanian, but if she comes through it will be a major confidence boost.

Another name no one will want to see on the draw sheet is Belinda Bencic, the 11th seed and newly crowned Olympic champion. The Swiss is expected to meet Swiatek in the last 16, although first she’ll need to get past Montreal semi-finalist Jessica Pegula. A last-eight meeting with Barty would have real blockbuster potential.

Angelique Kerber knows the course and distance at Flushing Meadows, having won the title five years ago, and looks in the mood to rekindle past glories. She reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and in Cincinnati, falling on both occasions to Barty. Drawn in the opposite half to the Australian here, the 16th-seeded German is well capable of derailing Osaka’s title defence should the pair meet as anticipated in the last 16.

Nor should the claims of Paula Badosa and Danielle Collins be overlooked. It’s been a breakthrough season for both players, with 24th seed Badosa reaching her first major quarter-final at the French Open and Collins, seeded 26th, winning the first titles of her career in Palermo and San Jose. Collins, who could face Sabalenka in round three, has the tougher quarter of the two, but both women have the potential to emerge from their respective quarters.

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