Over the past few months, Iga Swiatek has convincingly demonstrated her superiority over the rest of the field as she piled up points, victories and tournaments while aspiring to dominate all opponents in her path. Doing so at a grand-slam tournament, however, while managing the heightened pressure and attention, is a different challenge altogether.
So far, Swiatek has thrived in this new role. After experiencing the “cold shower” of a rare lost first set in the fourth round, Swiatek returned with a clean, efficient performance against the second highest player left in the draw, bulldozing 11th seed Jessica Pegula 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-final in Paris on her 21st birthday.
