Polish star Sweetek won a spirited second-set fight 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) against fifth-seeded Jabur at Arthur Ashe Stadium in 1 hour and 52 minutes.
The victory made the 21-year-old the first woman since 2016 to win two Grand Slams in a season, following Swietec’s win at the French Open in June.
Sweetek’s 10th career title also extended his remarkable record in tournament finals.
They have now won their last 10 finals without losing a set.
Sweetek fell to court in relief after a win that earned her $2.6 million in prize money.
“I’m really glad it’s not in cash,” she quipped as she was given her winner’s check for a tournament she entered with low expectations.
“Of course this tournament was really challenging because it’s New York – it’s so loud, it’s so crazy,” said Sweetek who was also the 2020 French Open champion.
“So many temptations in town, so many people who are so inspiring — it’s really mind blowing to me and I’m so proud that I can handle it mentally.”
But the defeat was another excruciating near-miss for Jabeur, who is bidding to become the first woman in Africa to win a Grand Slam.
The 28-year-old from Tunis also lost in the Wimbledon final in July.
“I really tried but Iga didn’t make it easy for me,” Jabur said. “He deserves to win today. I don’t like him very much today but never mind.
“I will keep working hard and soon we will get that title.”
– Jabeur Fightback – Jabeur impressed on the way to the final, dropping only one set and tying together a string of sure performances.
But she was in trouble from the start against Clinical Swietec, which was moving quickly with the smooth work of its serve and signature forehand.
In contrast, Jabeur looked irritable and fell out of love in his first serve game.
Sweetek easily took a 3-0 lead and the first set took only eight minutes.
Jabeur threatened a revival when she held on and then broke to close the gap 3-2.
But the fifth seed was let down again by her unstable service game, a problem during Saturday’s final, and Sweetek returned for a 4-2 lead.
Jabeur broke again as she served to be in the set and Sweetek took the first set.
Sweetek threatened to run away with the second set after breaking Jabeur and leading 3–0.
Yet Jabeur showed great determination to break Sweetek to reduce the deficit to 3-2.
Once again Jabur was unable to count the service break and Sweetek broke again for a 4–2 lead.
This time, however, Jabeur dug deeper to get back into the competition, aided by a piece of luck when a Sweetek return cut a net cord to secure the service break.
Jaboor leveled the score at 4-4 and suddenly the pace changed.
The next three games went with a serve and Jabur was dropped to serve in order to remain in the match. He put up a match-point fight at 5-6 and 30-40 before catching up for 6-6.
Jabeur took a 4-2 lead in the tie-break to take a 5-4 lead, but it was Sweetek who showed more restraint, converting his second match point when Jabeur made a long comeback.
No comments:
Post a Comment