Iga Swiatek makes honest admission after upset loss to Jessica Pegula in Montreal

borealit August 17, 2023

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Iga Swiatek admitted she “doesn’t really know what happened” to her game when she came close to completing a big comeback win over Jessica Pegula. Swiatek, seeded at No 1, exited Montreal in the semifinal after world No 3 Pegula handed the Pole a 6-2 6-7 (4) 6-4 loss.

In the second set, Swiatek broke back Pegula when the American was serving for the match at 5-4 and also recovered from a 2-4 deficit in the second-set tie-break. After stealing the second set from Pegula, Swiatek opened a 4-2 lead in the third set and it appeared that the Pole was cruising toward a comeback win.

But then, Swiatek’s game inexplicably shut down as Pegula won four games in a row to overturn the deficit and seal a three-set win. “She really pushed me, so I needed to change something up. It was working, but in the third, I don’t really know what happened when I was leading.

I’ve got to watch the match and analyze it, because for sure she was fighting for every point and I did as well. It was a tricky match,” Swiatek said.

Swiatek felt tired, exhausted
Due to rain delays, Montreal matches were getting delayed or suspended throughout the week.

In the round-of-16 against Karolina Muchova, Swiatek completed a win nine hours after starting the match. Lengthy rain delays left a toll on Swiatek and it negatively impacted the Pole against Pegula. “Well, for sure physically it was a tough tournament.

Especially that match against Karolina being delayed a couple of times, you know. I didn’t really have time during the tournament to actually rest for a while and do nothing. So it wasn’t easy, but it didn’t change the fact that I just fought until the end.

And this match today for sure physically was tough, like having only 16 hours to recover. For sure I’m not an easy sleeper, so it’s hard to sleep after such a match as yesterday with a lot of adrenaline, you know. You kind of have to deal with that. It’s the life of a tennis player. So I did what I could,” Swiatek said.