New York: World No. 1 Iga Sfiatek survived a heroic effort by Tunisia’s Onz Jabbar to win Saturday’s US Open final in straight sets to clinch his second Grand Slam title of the year.
Polish star Spheretec won the second set 6-2 7-6 (7/5) in 1 hour 52 minutes after a hard-fought comeback from No. 5 seed Jabbar at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The win follows Swiertek’s win at the French Open in June, making her the first woman to win two Grand Slams in one season since 2016. Aspired to be an Arab and African woman.
Swiatek’s 10th career title extended her incredible record of tournament finals. She has now won her last 10 finals without dropping a set.
But the loss was another painful near miss for Jabbar. The 28-year-old from Tunis had also lost the Wimbledon final in July.
Jabbar impressed en route to the final, dropping just one set and stringing together a string of solid performances.
But with her serve and signature forehand functioning smoothly, she was in trouble almost from the start against the clinical Swiatek, who quickly began her stride.
Jabbar, by contrast, looked nervous and fell in love in her first service game. Swiatek held on easily and he led 3-0 with just eight minutes in the first set.
Jabeur threatened revival before breaking to close the gap to 3-2. However, the No. 5 seed was again let down by erratic service his game in question in Saturday’s final, with Swiatek breaking back to give him a 4-2 lead.
Jabbar held the set on serve and Swiertek won the first set. Swiatek broke his Jabeur and threatened to walk away in the second set after leading 3-0.
Still, Jabbar showed determination to beat Swiertek and cut the deficit to 3-2. But again Jabbar failed to serve his break and Swiertek broke again to take his 4-2 lead.
But this time, Jabbar dug deep and got back into the contest, aided by luck when Swiertek’s return clipped the netcord to score a serve break.
The momentum suddenly changed as Jabeur held to tie the score at 4-4. The next three games went on serve and Jabbar was left on serve to stay in the match. She held match point at 6-6 after battling her 5-6 and her 30-40 down.
Jabeur recovered from a 4-2 down to lead 5-4 in the tiebreaker, but Swiatek was more composed and scored the second match point when Jabeur hit a long return.
