Iga Swiatek is the world No. 1 for a reason.
The 21-year-old from Poland had an answer for everything as she defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6 in Saturday’s U.S. Open final.
From the start, Jabeur’s nerves were apparent. The 28-year-old from Tunisia had played in one previous Grand Slam final in her career earlier this year at the French Open and fell to Kazakhstan's Elena Rybakina.
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On the other hand, Swiatek came out calm, cool and collected, running everything down and playing consistently aggressive.
In the first set, Swiatek came out full of confidence, grabbing a quick 3-0 lead off of a flat Jabeur. The Tunisian was able to pick up two games to narrow the margin but it wasn’t enough as Swiatek stormed back to grab the set 6-2.
In the second set, Swiatek continued to roll, earning a 3-1 and 4-2 lead when Jabeur picked up her intensity to tie up the set at 4-4. Swiatek went on to win the set 7-6 to capture the championship after a tiebreaker.
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The win marks Swiatek’s third career Grand Slam title after winning the French Open in 2020 and 2022. Swiatek will remain the world No. 1 when the new women’s singles rankings are released on Monday.
Despite the loss, Jabeur is the first African woman to make a U.S. Open final. She has been a trailblazer in the Arab community, inspiring those with fewer resources and chances to play tennis.
The match featured many iconic celebrities enjoying the tennis action, including Kawhi Leonard, Brooke Sheilds, Matthew Perry and Joe Jonas.
The men's U.S. Open final is set to feature Norway's No. 5 Casper Ruud and Spain's No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday at 4 p.m. ET.
