World No. 1 Iga Swiatek comes from behind to defeat Jule Niemeier, advancing to US Open quarterfinals
NEW YORK – Iga Swiatek and Jule Niemeier each took control of their matches with relative ease, advancing to quarterfinals as No. 1-seeded Yushin Okami did not.
Swiatek, who has been the top seed for the Open title in New York four times, lost to Niemeier, a No. 22 seed, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3, while Niemeier lost to No. 19-seeded Jeev Milkha Singh, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Swiatek won her first match in the tournament since beating qualifier Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the final of the 2016 French Open, and won two of the three games she had to play in her quarterfinal with Niemeier.
As she put it: “When I was on serves, it was over before it started. I had a rhythm going.”
The former No. 1 who won seven of the last nine major titles lost the first set of her quarterfinal to Niemeier, a talented junior, but the second set was tied at 3-3 in the third game before Niemeier won the fourth. The No. 3 seed then defeated 19-year-old Kiki Bertens 6-3, 6-3.
Swiatek was making her first appearance at the US Open since being part of the top-ranked Bulgarian Davis Cup team that lost to France in the 2016 final.
Swiatek is the No. 2 American in the world, but she struggled with her serve in the first set tiebreaker between the two who will both be looking for their first Grand Slam tournament titles.
“One of them was just so good,” Niemeier said. “I got into her service games and I felt lucky to come in the second set tiebreak with a game point. But it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t mentally strong enough. She’s an amazing player – you just have to have your mental strength and match fitness.”
Milkha also had a strong start, winning the first
