World number one Iga Swiatek of Poland clinched her third grand slam title as she beat world number 5 Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in straight sets 6-2, 7-6 to win the U.S. Open in tennis.
Swiatek has won the French Open twice, the recent victory in June of this year, and became the first woman since 2016 to collect two major titles in a season.
Jabeur became the first African woman and the first Arab woman to reach the U.S. Open final. She also lost her second straight Grand Slam final after losing the 2022 Wimbledon Championships to Elena Rybakina in three sets.
The win cemented Swiatek as the dominant women’s tennis player after the retirement of former world no. 1 Australian Ashley Barty earlier this year. Swiatek currently leads the world’s no. 2 player by over 4,000 points before new rankings are released this coming week.
While her tennis game is seemingly best on the slower clay courts of the French Open, Swiatek gradually adapted her game and groundstrokes to the hard courts of the U.S. Open, repeatedly changing tennis racquets and modifying her groundstrokes in each match she played.
In particular, it was her mental toughness, akin to that of Grand Slam champions Serena Williams, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, that was impressive, as she clearly struggled in several of her matches but still won her third Grand Slam.
Swiatek’s victory over Jabeur improved her record in Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour-level matches in 2022 to 55-7 with seven titles, leading the WTA.
It was an eventful U.S. Open for the women overall, with eventual Tennis Hall of Fame inductees Serena Williams and Venus Williams possibly playing their final Grand Slam tournaments in their home country.
Venus lost in the first round of singles and then lost in doubles with her sister, Serena. And Serena lost in singles in the third round to Australian Ajla Tomljanovic in a three-set match that lasted over three hours, after being current world no. 2 Anna Kontaveit in the second round and sparking hopes of her winning her 23rd Grand Slam and tying Australian Margaret Court for the most total number of Grand Slam tennis tournament titles.