Iga Świątek defeated the tournament in the fourth round Wt 1000 at Indian Wells Karolina Muchowa 6: 1, 6: 1 and advanced to the quarter -finals. On Thursday, in the next match in California he will face Qinwen Zheng.
Shelf He has a very favorable direct balance of direct meetings with Chinese – 6: 1. At the same time, their last meeting ended with an unexpected defeat of our tennis player in the most difficult possible circumstances. In August in Paris during the Olympic Games Zheng defeated Świątek 6: 2, 7: 5.
Iga Świątek suddenly stopped
– We keep our fingers crossed for Iga to win. Then she will have a certain Olympic medal – this is how Justyna Kostyra from Eurosport began the broadcast. This awareness pregnant our tennis player and made her play more difficult than usual. Although she performed on her beloved courts Roland Garroswhere she won four times.
Until the state of 2: 2, nothing indicated the equally great trouble of the Polish woman. It is true that she was broken by Chinese, but she responded to zero. Then Świątek began to make a lot of mistakes, mainly from the FORHEND, which usually is her strong weapon, especially on earth courts. It wasn't much better from Bekhendu.
That day, nothing worked on the main court of Philippe Chatier as usual as usual. – Aj, me, eggs. It looks bad. Another mistakes on the Iga side – we heard in the commentary when the tennis player threw back Return, who provided Zheng's set ball. The China representative played solidly and used the opponent's weakness. At the end of the first party, she sent the winning service, winning 6: 2 after four games won in a row.
The second installment of the game of Świątek came out changed. She hit precisely, dominated by the power of strokes. Qinwen Zheng looked lost. The best proof of this was the Congress of Chinese service, which began to make double mistakes from this impact. She didn't feel like that on the court anymore.
1: 0, 2: 0, 3: 0 and 4: 0 for Iga Świątek. Everything indicated that our tennis player would lead to a decisive set. And then suddenly she stopped, demons from the first party returned. Errors and nerves have returned. The fifth game ended with a double service error. Zheng saw what was happening on the other side of the net.
“Take your time Iga, calmly”
Chinese also changed tactics – she began to raise the ball, sending slower, but longer strokes. In this way, she neutralized his rival's strong attacks. After one of these balls, Świątek threw away far in the cars, and consequently the next exchange got 4: 4. “Take your time, Iga, calmly,” Justyna Kostyra commented.
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Then Zheng gained a break to 6: 5 and served to end game. Świątek ran in the last game 40:30, it was the last chance to save herself. Then the Chinese tennis player played a cosmic action: a strong throwing service, going two steps forward, an undefined shortcut against the legs, because sent in the same direction as the service before. Świątek came with the remains of strength, but she failed to pierce the ball to the other. The fans went crazy in the stands out of emotion.
40:40, and after a while Gem, Set and the Qinwen Zheng match. After a returry thrown out by the Polish woman, she fell on the court, lying on her back she clenched her fists with joy. Chinese woman was already happy, but Świątek suggested that the website was to be auto. The judge, however, did not agree with this and it was the end.
In this way, after 111 minutes of Christmas, she lost the fight for the final of the Paris Games. She suffered her first defeat at Roland Garros from June 2021. The more painful because, like all of Poland, she dreamed of the Olympic Golden Medal.
Poignant pictures after the match of Świątek
After this match, Świątek came to the Eurosport reporter Paweł Kuwik for an interview. The conversation, which did not last long. This is how Łukasz Jachimiak from Sport.pl described it, who was then in the French capital:
“Simply … I fell – Iga briefly and honestly. In front of the camera she stood devastated. She talked about a hole in her Bekhenda, who was always a certain blow. And she was not much more able to say. The interview interrupted, crying. And then tearful passed by press and radio journalists. – Sorry, Next Time – she just told us.”
These pictures went to the sad history of our Olympism, tearing our hearts. Świątek after the last question from Kuwik covered her face under the hat, turned back to the cameras to hide her tears. The greater the success that a dozen or so hours later she got up, and in the match for the bronze medal she beat Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlow. She won the first Olympic album in the history of Polish tennis.
Qinwen Zheng, in turn, reached for the Olympic championship, winning in finale with Croatian Donna Vekić. Chinese managed the greatest success in his career so far. However, it is hard not to get rid of the impression that she also partly benefited from the difficult situation in which she found herself. Before the start of the Games, many in the dark granted a Polish medal. The pressure in the homeland was gigantic.
On Thursday in California we will see if our tennis player is able to throw this negative memory out of her head. Not counting their last duel at the games, in the previous six she usually won quite confidently. We have no objections that the Polish woman would return to such a scenario. Better from Iga Świątek/Qinwen Zheng in the semi -final in Indian Wells will face Russian Mirrra Andriejeva or Ukrainian Elina Switolina.