Polish tennis icon Iga Swiatek became a savior for her country and has managed to keep the nations alive at the ongoing United Cup. She battled past the 28-year-old British sensation Katie Boulter, who gave it her all but still ended up on the losing side while Poland reached the semifinals of mixed teams. With Boulter's defeat, Great Britain's United Cup campaign has come to a saddening end.
Following Swiatek's victory, Poland has now booked their spot for the final four, where the team is set to face Kazakhstan in the semifinal on Saturday, where fans would be impatient to witness the faceoff between Swiatek and Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion.
How the match unfolded
As mentioned earlier, the Polish prodigy had to sweat it out on the court to secure victory over Boulter, as the latter held the former for 74 minutes in the opening set, while the game ended up with a scoreline of 6-7 (4/7), 6-1, 6-4. The victory marked Swiatek's third consecutive after making a comeback on the court after serving a one-month suspension due to testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine.
Although Swiatek grabbed a famous victory over her British counterpart, she later admitted feeling exhausted, revealing that she was relieved the match concluded as she had to rely on four painkillers during the game.
"I am just exhausted. This match was crazy, so many changes in momentum." She added: "I took four pain killers, a lot hurt, but happy we won. I thought I had it under control in the first set but I got tight. I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake in the third and I took four pain killers" Iga Swiatek said after the game.
She further noted that she felt so tired after the game that she would require a day off tomorrow and added that if she gets enough space in the dugout, she would want to take a nap.
"A lot hurt, but I’m happy that I won and for sure I’m going to need the day off tomorrow. If they give me space to lie down (in the dugout) I’ll take a nap … I think I’ll just go to the locker and die," Swiatek added.
With the stage set for the semi-final showdown on Saturday, fans must be eagerly anticipating what Swiatek has left in her arsenal for the playoffs.