Iga Swiatek had to dig deep on her Arthur Ashe Stadium debut, rallying from 5-1 down in the opening set to defeat Anna Kalinskaya 7-6(2), 6-4 and book her place in the US Open fourth round.
The world number two, who lifted the Wimbledon title earlier this summer, looked in danger of a repeat upset after Kalinskaya beat her in Dubai last year.
But Swiatek saved four set points, steadied herself in the tiebreak, and used her mental strength to wrestle back control.
Though errors marred the contest the pair combined for 67 unforced mistakes and nine service breaks, Swiatek’s resilience told at the key moments.
She broke late in the second set to seal her 20th Grand Slam match win of the season, equalling world number one Aryna Sabalenka.
“At 5-1 or something, it’s easy to panic, and I didn’t. So that’s good,” Swiatek said. “I focused on a couple of technical things that helped me, and I tried to keep the margins tighter.”
The 2022 US Open champion has now reached the last 16 in New York for the fifth straight year and will next face 13th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova.
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