No. 2 seed Iga Swiatek of Poland overcame a surprise second-set challenge from Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands and held on for a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 victory in the second round of the U.S. Open on Thursday in New York.
Swiatek lost leads of 2-1 and 4-3 in the second set as Lamens broke her serve three times. Swiatek won just half her 20 first-service points in that set, but she turned it around in the third by taking 15 of 18 first-service points.
The Wimbledon champion broke Lamens twice to build a 4-1 lead. Lamens broke back in the sixth game and crept to within 4-3 before Swiatek eventually won it on her third match point.
“I felt like it depended on me, whether I’m going to make mistakes or not. I probably got a little tight in the second set and she for sure used the opportunity,” Swiatek said. “In the third set, I needed to be more precise.
“It wasn’t an easy match. I’m happy at the end I could be more proactive.”
Swiatek, 24, is vying to become the first woman to capture Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in the same year since Serena Williams in 2012. Coincidentally, the only set Swiatek lost in London last month came in the second round, as well, before she beat Caty McNally and ran the table the rest of the way.
Her third-round opponent will be Russian 29th seed Anna Kalinskaya, who defeated Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 7-5 on Thursday.
Also playing early on Thursday was Japanese star Naomi Osaka. The No. 23 seed converted 5 of 8 break points as she sailed past Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1.
No. 13 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia needed just 63 minutes to top China’s Xinyu Wang 6-2, 6-2. No. 18 seed Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil had a similar outcome, beating Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic 6-1, 6-4. Haddad Maia advanced to face Greece’s Maria Sakkari, a 6-3, 6-1 winner over Anna Bondar of Hungary.
Czech 21st seed Linda Noskova was leading 6-4, 3-0 when Eva Lys of Germany retired.
A pair of highly-seeded Americans will take the stage in the Thursday night session. No. 3 Coco Gauff is slated to face Croatia’s Donna Vekic, and No. 8 Amanda Anisimova will play Australia’s Maya Joint.
–Field Level Media
