US Open, women’s singles: Iga Swiatek, beaten by Jelena Ostapenko, loses her title and her place as world No. 1

More than a defeat, it’s a K.-O. Iga Swiatek, holder of the US Open and the world No. , 6-1 in 1h48), Sunday evening in the round of 16 of the US Open. It is also the fourth defeat in as many games against Ostapenko for Swiatek, who will therefore be dethroned next Monday by Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the world rankings.

The Pole will also not become the first player to retain her title in New York since Serena Williams, victorious between 2012 and 2014. The fault therefore lies with her “pet peeve” and this devil of Jelena Ostapenko, who beat her for the 4th time in as many encounters. And this, by doing Ostapenko: that is to say by attempting the K.-O on almost every shot, which Swiatek, who does not like being deprived of time, especially on the forehand side, abhors. And once again, the plan worked.

Everything had however started well for the (future ex) world No. 1, who had quickly overcome a conceded break from the start to dominate the 1st set. At that time, Swiatek was playing fast, fair and well, while Ostapenko, as she later said on the microphone, was over-hasty.

And then, the landscape started to change at the start of the 2nd set. This time again, Ostapenko broke from the start and if she again ended up losing her lead at 4-2 by committing two double faults, she immediately went on the attack. In fact, we did not know it yet but this game marked by Swiatek to come back to 4-3 was in a way his swan song. Behind, she would collect seven consecutive games to find herself trailing 5-0 in the 3rd set.

The Pole, suddenly overwhelmed and less and less precise, saw a veritable tsunami sweep over her, facing which she found herself completely dazed. The shipwreck was total for her in this 3rd set, where we even saw her collect a series of 8 points in a row. Deprived of rhythm, drunk with blows, just drunk, she seemed to have capitulated before her time, which is however anything but the kind of house.

All the credit also goes, of course, to Ostapenko, who hit a large number of winning shots as usual (31) while this time drastically reducing his number of unforced errors (20). The 2017 Roland-Garros champion, as we know, likes big matches. She is not the type to be scared by anyone and especially not by Iga Swiatek, whom she is the first to beat four times on the circuit. And probably not either by Coco Gauff, who will be his next opponent in the quarter-finals.

Race results: after 75 weeks at the top of the world rankings, Iga Swiatek, winner of the US Open last year against Ons Jabeur, will therefore leave her place at the top of the hierarchy next Monday to Aryna Sabalenka. Which will thus become the 29th world number 1 in the history of the WTA ranking. To celebrate, the Belarusian may also be able to buy Ostapenko a good restaurant.