Women are leaving the turbulence zone – Newspaper Kommersant No. 167 (7368) of 09/10/2022

On Saturday, in the decisive match of the US Open, the first racket of the world, Iga Swiatek, who defeated the Belarusian Arina Sabolenko in three sets, and Uns Jabir, who left no chance for the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia, will meet. This year’s Polish champion Roland Garros and the Tunisian, who played in the Wimbledon final two months ago, make up perhaps the most predictable pairing of Grand Slam finalists in recent memory.

For women at the US Open, it doesn’t happen every time. Last year in New York, one sensation was sitting on top of another and driving the same sensation, and in the final, the 150th racket of the world, Emma Raducanu won Canadian Leila Fernandez, who was not among the top 70 at that time. But now it turned out the other way around – the champion title will be played by tennis players who are pre-recorded as the main contenders. Number one, Roland Garros winner Iga Šwiętek will face Uns Jabir, who, although currently ranked fifth in the world classification, will be ranked second next Monday. She also reached the decisive stage of the previous major – Wimbledon, performing there, by the way, much better than those who are currently ranked higher than her.

It seems that women’s tennis is gradually overcoming the zone of turbulence – a period of endless surprises that have become an integral part of it in recent years. It is not certain, of course, that 28-year-old Uns Jabir will stake out a place in the elite for a long time. But the pattern of leadership of the 21-year-old Shventek is beyond doubt, even if after her Parisian triumph she suffered several defeats. In New York, her path to the final, by the way, was not ideal. Starting from the third round, all matches of Sventek lasted about two hours. In the 1/8 finals, the little-known German Julia Niemeyer created the most serious problems for her, to whom the Pole gave the first set, and on Thursday the same thing happened in the semifinals against the Belarusian Arina Sobolenko. But there is a completely objective, purely technical reason for this.

The balls that are used at the US Open in the women’s tournament (they are different from the men’s, by the way) are relatively light and do not fit Swiatek, who is more comfortable with more “managed” equipment.

On this occasion, she openly expressed her dissatisfaction even before the start of the tournament. But even in this not the most pleasant environment for herself, the Pole continued to win.

Shventek also coped with Sobolenko, who had recently sinned with a huge number of double faults, but now she has corrected the pitch. In the decisive set of her third Grand Slam semi-final in her career, the Minsker twice went into the lead with a break, but in the end the Pole took four games in a row and won – 3:6, 6:1, 6:4.

Uns Jabir semi-final against the Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia was much easier. It was won by her in a little over an hour – 6:1, 6:3, although Garcia, the champion of the major August tournament in Cincinnati, which she started with qualifications, had an unbeaten streak of 13 matches in her account, and in five meetings at the US Open looked almost invincible and did not give up a single set.

It’s a shame that after losing the Wimbledon final to Elena Rybakina, Jabir, who then took the first game, will apparently try to take into account her mistakes of that time, including those of a psychological nature.

And if we take the general level of tennis shown in New York over the past two weeks, perhaps the African can even be considered a favorite in the final, especially since according to the score of personal meetings – 2: 2 – Shventek has no advantage over her.

The question, however, is that the current first racket of the world, like no one else, knows how to tune in to title fights. Having lost her very first final in 2019, she has already won nine such matches in a row, including six this year. In addition, Jabir’s game is more risk-based than Šwiętek’s tennis. And you have to take risks in the finals against the backdrop of strong nervous tension, which often becomes a key factor.

Evgeny Fedyakov