Iga Swiatek beat Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6 (5) in the U.S. Open final on Saturday to claim her first championship at Flushing Meadows and third Grand Slam title overall.
The No. 1-ranked Swiatek cemented her status as the dominant figure in women’s tennis by triumphing at the tournament that is expected to be the last of Serena Williams’ career.
Swiatek’s victory over No. 5 Jabeur improved her record in tour-level matches to 55-7 with seven trophies in 2022. Both of those figures lead the WTA.
She also won the French Open in June and is the first woman since 2016 to collect two major titles in a season.
On Saturday, Swiatek had her first match point while leading 6-5 in the second as Jabeur served. Right before the point began, Swiatek jogged over to the sideline to change rackets — an unusual choice at that moment.
Swiatek then missed a backhand, and Jabeur pushed things to the tiebreaker and led it 5-4. But Swiatek took the last three points, and soon was down on her back, a major champ once again.
Jabeur, a 28-year-old from Tunisia, is the first African woman and first Arab woman to reach a Grand Slam final and was participating in her second in a row. But she is now 0-2 at that stage being the runner-up at Wimbledon in July.
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More AP coverage of U.S. Open tennis: https://apnews.com/hub/us-open-tennis-championships and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
ball: https://apnews.com/article/us-open-tennis-championships-sports-new-york-iga-swiatek-2526304c7d52fd71439537c397a7253c
men pre: https://apnews.com/article/rafael-nadal-novak-djokovic-us-open-tennis-championships-sports-d71b8b87e942026a57cb8be9c2bc5e18
Swiatek: https://apnews.com/article/french-open-sports-tennis-wimbledon-6cededafff177365f43ff614630e3abb
Jabeur: https://apnews.com/article/us-open-tennis-championships-sports-iga-swiatek-caroline-garcia-ecb65ee5c6b2b2c6fdc6ed545ef14032
