Iga Świątek: Playing in front of a Polish crowd is amazing!
Iga Świątek positively evaluated the surface change from clay to hard at the WTA Championships in Warsaw. “Now my season is arranged more sensibly,” said the head of the tennis rating after winning the first round with Nigina Abduraimwa from Uzbekistan 6: 4, 6: 3.
The meeting lasted 1 hour 37 minutes.
“A year ago, it wasn’t easy for me to come back for a few days for a ‘meal,'” she added.
In the previous season, Świątek was eliminated in Warsaw in the quarterfinals. On Tuesday, she had an unexpectedly long battle with Abdelrimoua, who is only 181st on the WTA list.
“It takes a lot to get from the grass to the free surface, but I like slow surfaces and it shouldn’t be a problem. I need to polish a few things – movement and positioning. However, I didn’t have enough time to switch and I’ll need training day tomorrow” – she assesses.
It was the first match coach Tomas Wiktorowski has managed since the quarter-final loss at Wimbledon two weeks earlier.
“The tournament in Warsaw is great as an experiment before the American part. Finally, I also have a place to train during the season, because before that I had to go outside Warsaw. We don’t have many facilities that can boast of such a new surface, similar to that of the Tour,” – she admitted.
Świątek is the only Pole to reach the first round in Warsaw. Earlier, Maja Czawalinska and Veronica Ewald dropped out. More than four thousand viewers admired the leader of the ranking live. The stands were filled almost to the last seat.
“Playing in front of a Polish crowd is a wonderful thing and I’m glad I can experience it again. It definitely means more stress for me, despite my experience. I will try to focus more and extract only positive things from the crowd’s energy,” she revealed.
She added, “I have always wanted to show Polish fans good tennis, so that they have something to watch. This makes my expectations even higher. I have to go back to the basics, to what has always worked.”
Her next opponent will be the American Claire Liu or the Chinese Yu Yuan. Their match on Tuesday at 4-4 in the first set was abandoned due to darkness.
Results of first round matches tuesday singles
Iga Swiczek (Poland, 1) – Nigina Abduraimwa (Uzbekistan) 6:4, 6:3
Rebecca Sramkova (Slovakia) – Veronica Ewald (Poland) 6:2, 6:2
Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic, 2) – Aleksandra Sasnovich (Belarus) 4-6, 7-6 (7-0), 6-3
Heather Watson (UK) beat Katerina Siniakova (Czech Republic, 3rd) 7-5, 6-2.
Zhou Lin (CHN, 4) vs Wang Shiyu (CHN) 6-4, 6-2
Teresa Martinkova (Czech Republic) beat Zhang Shuai (CHN, 5) 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.
Lucrezia Stefanini (Italy) beat Linda Frohvertova (Czech Republic 7), 6-1, 7-6 (7-4).
Linda Noskova (Czech Republic, 8) – Jana Veit (Croatia) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3.
Tatjana Maria (Germany) beat Natalia Stefanovic (SERbia 6), 6-3, 6-1.
Jodi Anna Borage (UK) – Ankita Raina (India) 4:6, 6:4, 7:6 (7-4)
Clara Towson (Denmark) vs. Daria Snigor (Ukraine) 6-2, 6-3
Julija Hatoka (Belarus) – Jessica Ponchet (France) 6-4, 3-6, 7-5
Claire Liu (USA) – Yuan Yu (China) 4:4 – Deserted due to darkness
(PAP)
