By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, August 28, 2025
Photo credit: Jon Buckle/ROLEX
NEW YORK—Littering isn’t part of Iga Swiatek’s standard stroke production on court.
Today, Swiatek made a slight mess in the second set but cleaned up her act considerably in the decider on Arthur Ashe Stadium today.
The result was Swiatek’s 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 conquest of US Open debutant Suzan Lamens sending the second-seeded Pole into the Flushing Meadows third round for the sixth straight year.
Two-time former US Open champion Naomi Osaka soared through seven of the last eight games, blitzing American Hailey Baptiste 6-3, 6-1 in Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Four years removed from her last title at the 2021 Australian Open, Osaka will face either 15th-seeded Daria Kasatkina or Kamilla Rakhimova for a fourth-round spot.
It was Swiatek’s ninth consecutive major win—-and marked the first time she’s gone the three-set distance since defeating American Caty McNally 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 in the Wimbledon second round.
Of course, after taming McNally at SW19, Swiatek went on to capture her maiden Wimbledon crown. She hopes today’s test will prepare her for Flushing Meadows battles to come.
“I served better [in the third set] than the previous set,” Swiatek said after scoring her seventh straight win following her first Cincinnati crown earlier this month. “I would say then later on I wanted to be confident with my serve and go for it.
“I’m happy I closed it even though I lost one break. I did some mistakes so I’m happy at the end I could be more proactive.”
Twelve of Swiatek’s 29 unforced errors came in that second set when Lamens reeled off three games in a row to surprise Swiatek and snatch the second set.
Though the 2022 US Open champion restored order rolling to a 4-1 double-break lead in the decider, Lamens did not go quietly.
World No. 66 Lamens broke back then hit a deep drive denying match point at 30-40 to hold serve and force Swiatek to serve it out.
Swiatek double faulted on her second match point, but pumped her seventh ace to close in two hours, six minutes.
Afterward, Swiatek said she will try to draw positives from an up-and-down performance.
“Well, just being under pressure a bit, figuring it out, problem-solving, it’s always something you can take from a match like that,” Swiatek said. “Just maybe playing a bit longer on Ashe also, because the surface, as usual, practice courts are totally different.”
Proactive play helped the six-time major champion find the finish line: Swiatek won 10 of 16 trips to net today.
First-strike tennis figures to be essential when Swiatek faces Anna Kalinskaya in what could be an intriguing third-round clash.
Kalinskaya overcame eight double faults in a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Yulia Putintseva on Court 12.
The 29th-seeded Kalinskaya hit 18 more winners—22 to 4—than the feisty Putintseva to power into the US Open third round for a second time.
“Well, for sure it’s gonna be hard,” Swiatek said of the third round. “She likes faster surfaces. I haven’t watched her here obviously because there’s so much going on, but I’ll prepare tactically as before any other match and I’ll be ready.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPaOEje34t4
Though Swiatek dismissed the Russian 6-3, 6-4 in the Cincinnati quarterfinals earlier this month, Kalinskaya knows what it takes to beat Swiatek on a hard court. Kalinskaya swept Swiatek 6-4, 6-4 in the 2024 Dubai semifinals.
Kalinskaya possesses a pure and potent two-handed backhand she wielded reaching the Washington, DC final earlier this summer. Swiatek said the third round will be about the first strike.
“Well, she’s a fat hitter and she likes to be proactive and be aggressive from the beginning from the first ball,” Swiatek said.
