World No 1 Iga Swiatek admitted she felt “helpless” against Jessica Pegula and losing while representing her country was also a reason why she burst into tears following the defeat.
In the United Cup semifinal in Sydney, Poland’s Swiatek got crushed by Pegula as the American ousted the world No 1 with a 6-2 6-2 score.
After the match was over, Swiatek was evidently in distress and she became very emotional. “Because I just knew that I felt kind of helpless today, because physically and mentally I wasn’t able to kind of show up even, and problem-solve.
So it’s always hard when you lose, especially when you’re kind of playing for the team and your country. So I was just sad. But, you know, it’s not the first time I cried after a lost match. Nothing special,” Swiatek said after the match, per Tennis Majors.
Swiatek stood no chance against Pegula
In the first set, Swiatek suffered three breaks of serve. After losing her first three service games, Swiatek saved two set points on her serve in the seventh game to finally win one of her own service games.
In the second set, Swiatek’s struggles on serve continued as Pegula clinched two breaks to complete a two-set win. Last year, Swiatek collected four straight-set defeats against Pegula. But on Friday in Sydney, Pegula clinched a statement win against Swiatek.
Even though Swiatek was evidently very disappointed with her performance, she didn’t want to take anything away from Pegula. “She’s one of the best players in the world so you have to be really on top of your game to win against Jessie.
It was always like that, even last season. So I’m not surprised, because I know what she can do. I’m more surprised I just wasn’t able to step up to her game today,” Swiatek explained.
