Iga Swiatek began her 2024 US Open campaign with a solid outing against Kamilla Rakhimova, whom she beat in two sets.
A few weeks ago in Washington, Rakhimova faced Aryna Sbalaenka in a very interesting match that went the distance. The Russian played well and demonstrated what could be considered some of her best tennis.
She served well, hit the ball really well, and just fought for every point. That sort of skillset was good enough to give Swiatek some problems at the start of her US Open campaign, and she showed it.
The Polish player had her lone preparation event for the US Open in Cincinnati, where she played well before running into an inspired Aryna Sabalenka. It wasn’t ideal, but it was more than enough for her to get a feel for the hard courts.
The courts in New York play quite a bit differently, with the courts considerably slower than those in Cincinnati. On paper, that should be good for the World No. 1 player, who is a great mover.
If she has a bit more time, then it’s hugely beneficial. The balls this year are the lighter balls, which were used also in 2022, which is when she won the US Open, so that’s another bonus for her.
The start certainly showed a really comfortable number one, who took an early break of serve 2-0. Rakhimova didn’t shy away from playing her aggressive style. We saw against Sabalenka what it can do when it works.
It didn’t work well in this match early on. She quickly totalled five unforced errors by the time Swiatek took a 3-0 lead. The Polish player was simply locked in at the start of the match, which is fairly typical.
At times, she can show some nerves against higher-ranked players, but when she faces lower-ranked players, the Pole generally outplays them early on.
The only weak part of Swiatek’s game at the start was the serve, which was a bit lacking, but that was no issue. Rakhimova got into the match better at 4-0 for her opponent, winning her first game.
She then finally started applying some pressure on her opponent. A weird sequence from Swiatek allowed her opponent to make it 4-3. Ultimately, the 2022 champion could hold onto her lead to win the opening set 6-4.
Rakhimova made it more competitive than it should have been, which is a testament to how tricky a player she is. The second set didn’t bring anything new, as Swiatek took an early lead, which was crucial to cutting off any kind of momentum for Rakhimova.
After taking that early break, the top seed mostly focused on not losing it, so she didn’t complicate her matchup too much. Unfortunately for her fans, she did that by losing her serve when she served for the match.
That gave Rakhimova a chance to complicate her life even further, but the world number one wouldn’t allow it. The set ended up in a tie-break, in which Swiatek was down 3-6 but rallied to win the tie-break 8-6, and the match 6-4, 7-6(6)
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