Explained: Who is Iga Swiatek, the Polish tennis star on the verge of breaking Serena Williams’ record-Sports News , Firstpost

The game of musical chairs as far as Grand Slam champions in the WTA circuit is concerned has been going over for over seven years now. Since 23-time champion Serena Williams won four back-to-back Majors in 2014-15, the women’s singles events have either seen their title favourites go down, at times in straight sets, or more recently enter the tournament without a clear-cut challenger.

Of course the likes of Naomi Osaka and the now-retired Ashleigh Barty, but haven’t quite been able to match the kind of consistency and domination that Williams produced at her peak. have bucked the trend at times but the women’s Grand Slams have lacked the spark when compared to their male counterparts.

That doesn’t seem to be the case at this year’s French Open as Iga Swiatek seems destined for her second French Open, also her second Major overall and is on the brink of breaking Serena William’s unbeaten streak.

However, before we progress further on that, it’s important for the unversed to know who Swiatek is.

Who is Iga Swiatek?

Born in Polish capital Warsaw in 2001, Iga found passion for tennis following her elder sister’s footsteps. While her sister Agata said goodbye to tennis in her teens over injury issues, Iga made strong claim for professional season with the junior Wimbledon title in 2018.

Her rookie season in WTA circuit saw her enter the main draw of Australian Open, which ended with a second-round exit. She left a bigger impression at the French Open later that season by reaching the fourth round. However, she was humbled by Romanian star Simona Halep, who handed her a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.

Prior to the French Open, she also reached her maiden WTA final at the Ladies Open Lugano (a WTA international event) where her cross-court drop shot in quarter-finals against Kristyna Pliskova left fans in awe. The shot was later adjudged WTA Shot of the Year.

Her efforts in the season saw her breach the Top 50 for the first time but a slump in form in later half of the year saw her finish the season at No 61.

However, she wouldn’t taste success until 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic brought the tennis world, if not the entire world, to a halt. Then ranked 54, the 19-year-old stunned the world by winning the French Open in September.

On her way to the title, she exacted revenge over Halep 6-1, 6-2 in a fourth-round rematch. Halep was considered a hot favourite for the title as she was on a 17-match unbeaten run.

Iga eventually defeated world No 6 Sofia Kenin in the final 6-4, 6-1 to become the first Polish to win a Major and the youngest woman to lift the Major since Monica Seles in 1992.

Post the win, she also improved her ranking to No 17.

Her lack of form in remaining Majors (except Wimbledon, which was cancelled) suggested she could be a one-hit wonder.

And major success eluded Iga in 2021 as well with fourth round exits at all the Majors despite being seeded inside top 10.

However the Poles gained much-needed confident back by winning the Italian Open (WTA 1000 event) on her favourite clay court.

How an improved Swiatek took 2022 by storm

Known for having the fastest backhand on the women’s circuit, even faster than some of the men, Swiatek has an overall package that suits all the courts. Of course this goes against the fact that her success has been limited to the clay court. While her ability to generate power does make her efficient in hitting winners, it also makes her susceptible to unforced errors at the same time.

Entering the 2022 season, Iga came a much-improved player after a change in coach and went on to grab five titles, including her three WTA 1000 titles on the trot at the Qatar Open, Indian Wells and Miami Open

Before the title spree, she also improved on her best fourth-round show at the Australian Open to a semi-final exit. The seventh-seed went down to Danielle Collins in straight sets in what appeared to be a meek surrender.

However, the 20-year-old Pole went on to grab the top spot in WTA rankings for the first time after Australian Open champ Barty called time on her career in March.

Going on a winning streak

By March, Iga was already on a 13-match unbeaten streak and has already bagged the two Masters equivalent titles (Qatar and Indian Wells).

Upon her Miami 1000 title, she stretched her streak to 28 matches, while adding two more titles at the Italian Open and Stuttgart Open, before heading to French Open.

How close is she to Williams’ streak? Is that the longest winning streak ever?

If Iga goes on to lift the French Open, she will break the 34-match winning streak held by Open era great Serena Williams, who set the record in 2013 en route to winning five titles.

Serena also had a victory streak of 32 matches before that — winning 12 matches on the trot at the end of 2009 season and 20 more in 2010.

However, the record of biggest winning streak lies with Serena’s elder sibling Venus Williams, who won 35 matches on the trot, including two Grand Slams and an Olympic gold.

This subsequently means Iga will match the seven-time Grand Slam winner’s record if she goes on to lift the French Open.

How far is Iga from achieving the record?

At the time of writing this report on Wednesday, Iga stretched her winning streak to 33 matches by reaching the semi-finals after handing American Jessica Pegula a straight-sets defeat in the last-eight clash.

On her way to the quartes, she defeated unseeded Lesia Tsurenko in the opening round 6-2, 6-0 followed by another dominant 6-0, 6-2 display over world No 43 Allison Riske.

The top seed then defeated Danka Kovinic 6-3, 7-5 in the third round before surving a scare against Qinwen Zheng in a 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 to reach the quarters.

She would then outplay Pegula 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-final meeting.

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