Swiatek overpowers Jabeur to win US Open

New York, Sep 10 (EFE).- World No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated fifth-ranked Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6 (5) here Saturday to claim her first US Open title and increase her haul of trophies this year to seven.

The 21-year-old Pole is now 3-0 in Grand Slam finals, having won the French Open in 2020 and again this year.

For Tunisia’s Jabeur, the first Arab and African woman to get this far at the US Open, it was her second defeat in as many Grand Slam finals.

She came up short against Elena Rybakina at Wimbledon two months ago. But Jabeur, 28, will climb to second when the new rankings come out Monday and she leaves New York with a check for $1.3 million After a hard-fought 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 triumph in her semifinal against Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek was in command from the start of the showdown with Jabeur.

She connected on 90 percent of her first serves and achieved three breaks against Jabeur, who hadn’t given Caroline Garcia so much as a sniff of a break in their semifinal.

Swiatek needed barely 30 minutes to prevail 6-2 in the first set, but an error when she was up 6-5 in the second opened the door for Jabeur, who forced the Pole to a tiebreaker.

The Tunisian was ahead 5-4 in the tiebreak when Swiatek took three straight points to secure the trophy and the $2.6 million winner’s check.

“For sure, this tournament was really challenging, also, because it’s New York. It’s so loud. It’s so crazy,” Swiatek said afterward. “I’m really proud that I could handle it mentally.”

“I really tried, but Iga didn’t make it easy for me. She deserved to win today,” Jabeur said. EFE am/dr