On Saturday, Swiatek handed Jabeur a 6-2 7-6 (5) loss. In May, Jabeur suffered a straight sets loss to Swiatek in the Rome final. “It will always be great to compete with Iga. I was joking when I said I don’t like it.
I will forgive her when she gives me a Rolex or something like that (smiling),” Jabeur said after the final. Win or lose, you know Ons had jokes. Ons Jabeur: It will always be great to compete with Iga. I was joking when I said I don’t like it. I’ll forgive her when she gives me a Rolex or something (smiling). — Reem Abulleil (@ReemAbulleil) September 10, 2022
Jabeur: Swiatek just plays at the right time
Swiatek now has a 3-2 head-to-head against Jabeur and has won each of their two meetings this year.
“I think in general [Swiatek just plays] better at the right time, at the important points,” Jabeur said in her post-match press conference. “He knows exactly what to do. I feel like he’s improved a lot from last year to again at the beginning of this year.”
Swiatek started well, breaking Jabeur for an early 3-0 lead. After an early break, Jabeur responded and broke Swiatek in the fifth game to cut the Pole’s lead to 3-2. However, an early break did not affect Swiatek, who broke Jabeur again in the sixth and eighth games to win the first set.
In the second set, both players lost serve twice as the set went to a tiebreak. After saving a match point in the 12th game, Jabeur had a 5-4 lead in the tiebreak and was two points away from taking a third set. But Swiatek responded by winning the next three points and completing a straight sets win.
