Swiatek rallies past Kalinskaya to reach US Open fourth round

Iga Swiatek overcame a slow start to defeat No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya 7-6 (2), 6-4 in 1 hour and 56 minutes Saturday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium, advancing to the Round of 16 at the US Open for the fifth straight year.

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Swiatek trailed 5-1 and faced four set points in the opening set before mounting a comeback, winning six of the next seven games and dominating the tiebreak. She carried that momentum into the second set to close out the match in straight sets.

How did she do it? Even the former World No. 1 herself couldn’t explain it.

“Oh, my God, I don’t know,” Swiatek said after the match. “Honestly, Anna was playing great. She was getting all these risky balls in like she once did against me in Dubai. So, I just wanted to make less mistakes, because I felt like I was playing well.

“I felt like I had nothing to lose because I was losing pretty badly. So, at the end (of the first set) I just went for it, because what more can I do?"

The victory marks Swiatek’s 23rd career main-draw win at the US Open. She only has more at Roland Garros (40) in a single WTA-level tournament.

Here are some takeaways following Swiatek’s remarkable third-round comeback:

Serving struggles: After jumping out to a big lead in the first set, it was ultimately Kalinskaya’s serve that unraveled her chances against Swiatek.

Kalinskaya committed 11 double faults on the night, many at crucial moments. She served for the first set three times, but double faults in each of those games led to breaks. By the time the players reached the tiebreak, she had already tallied seven.

Swiatek wasn’t flawless on serve either, landing just over 43% of first serves. Still, she won 76% of those points and converted 50% on her second serve -- 14 percentage points higher than Kalinskaya. Swiatek faced only two break points in the second set, maintaining control as Kalinskaya’s serve continued to falter.

Swiatek’s tiebreak breakthrough: Tiebreaks have been a rare weak spot for Swiatek this season.

Entering Saturday’s match, she was 4-7 in tiebreaks at the WTA level in 2025 and 0-2 in tiebreaks at Grand Slams. Her 7-2 win in the opening-set tiebreak marked her first since defeating Ekaterina Alexandrova in a second-set tiebreak in the Bad Homburg quarterfinals in June.

Fittingly, Alexandrova awaits in the next round.

Looking ahead: Swiatek will face Alexandrova in the fourth round Monday. 

She holds a 5-2 head-to-head advantage at the WTA level. While Swiatek won their most recent meeting in Bad Homburg, Alexandrova claimed their last hard-court clash in Miami last year.

A win Monday would send Swiatek to her third career US Open quarterfinal.