{"id":93241,"date":"2025-08-19T01:54:05","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:54:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93241\/"},"modified":"2025-08-19T01:54:05","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T01:54:05","slug":"iga-swiatek-continues-surge-with-cincinnati-open-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/93241\/","title":{"rendered":"Iga \u015awi\u0105tek continues surge with Cincinnati Open victory"},"content":{"rendered":"

In May, the former World No. 1, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek<\/a>, dropped down to No. 8.<\/p>\n

The Pole had just failed to win the French Open<\/a> for the first time since 2021, amidst a finals appearance drought that eventually extended over a year.<\/p>\n

But \u015awi\u0105tek has surged late in the 2025 season. And building off her recent win on the grass courts at Wimbledon<\/a>, she took home the Cincinnati Open<\/a>‘s Rookwood Cup after she beat Italian, Jasmine Paolini<\/a>, 7-5, 6-4, on Aug. 18.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, \u015awi\u0105tek has risen to No. 2 on the WTA Tour<\/a> after reaching the final in three of the past four events she has played. By winning her 11th WTA 1,000-level title, she also moved to second all-time, only behind Serena Williams, who has 13.<\/p>\n

“I don’t know why I won tournaments that were the last ones, in terms of what I thought the probability (was) going to be in terms of me playing well,” \u015awi\u0105tek said during an on-court interview afterward. “I’m shocked and I’m super happy.”<\/p>\n

More: Carlos Alcaraz wins Cincinnati Open as top-ranked Jannik Sinner retires in first set<\/a><\/p>\n

\u015awi\u0105tek wins in straight sets.<\/p>\n

After dropping the first three sets, \u015awi\u0105tek responded to draw level at 3-3. Paolini drove an overhead too long while trailing 15-40 in the fifth game, practically gifting the Pole the break.<\/p>\n

Soon after, \u015awi\u0105tek took a commanding 5-3 lead. But Paolini responded with a hold and break to draw level at 5-5 after the Pole missed a groundstroke wide.<\/p>\n

Still, \u015awi\u0105tek prevailed 7-5 in the set after securing yet another break to go ahead 6-5.<\/p>\n

In the second set, \u015awi\u0105tek went up an early break after following a deep lob with a decisive stroke, leaving Paolini guessing which direction to move. But the Italian responded with a break of her own to equalize at 1-1.<\/p>\n

Later, \u015awi\u0105tek broke Paolini to go ahead 3-2, but Paolini energized the crowd as she came back with a break to make it 3-3.<\/p>\n

Still, the Pole would not go away, finishing a break with a well-placed forehand to beat Paolini as she arrived at the net to make it 4-3.<\/p>\n

Then, all \u015awi\u0105tek had to do was hold her next two serves, which she did twice to claim the second set, 6-4. In the first of those, the Pole staved off the Italian by rattling off four straight points after trailing 15-40.<\/p>\n

By closing the match in straight sets, \u015awi\u0105tek managed not to lose a single set the entire tournament. She also extended her undefeated record over Paolini to 6-0, having only ever lost one set to the Italian.<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Open was one of three 1,000-level tournaments the Pole had played in and never won, previously reaching the semifinal three times.<\/p>\n

More: ‘We named him Jannik.’ How one Cincinnati Open volunteer added to family during tournament<\/a><\/p>\n

Both players headed to US Open next<\/p>\n

Paolini enjoyed finals appearances at the French Open and Wimbledon last year, but her level had dropped in grand slams this year, with her furthest run being the Round of 16 at Roland Garros. Thanks to a victory at the Italian Open, a runner-up at the Cincinnati Open and other results, though, she is up to eighth in the WTA rankings heading into the final slam of the year.<\/p>\n

In New York, Paolini will compete without one event, the mixed doubles, which she withdrew from because of the demanding schedule and its Aug. 19 start.<\/p>\n

“It was, for sure, a positive two weeks here in Cincinnati after a very tough one and a half months for me,” Paolini said. “But I’m happy with the level I put in this tournament.”<\/p>\n

\u015awi\u0105tek, meanwhile, will be looking to continue her momentum in New York after compiling two tournament victories in the last four events she has played.<\/p>\n

With the US Open qualifiers already underway, both players will have a short turnaround to the final slam of the year. The singles draw will be revealed on Aug. 21.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In May, the former World No. 1, Iga \u015awi\u0105tek, dropped down to No. 8. The Pole had just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":93242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[19553,2091,19559,3,8306,13470,13471,5573,19550,19557,63400,6542,52747,99,2415,428,13692,23707,52751,5352],"class_list":["post-93241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-competitions","tag-international","tag-international-sports-competitions","tag-news","tag-open","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-racquet","tag-racquet-sports","tag-serena","tag-serena-williams","tag-southern","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-tennis","tag-u0026","tag-western","tag-western-u0026-southern-open","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}