A to Z focus: Iga Swiatek all business in San Diego win over Coco Gauff

SAN DIEGO—Upon arrival at the San Diego Open earlier this week, world No. 1 Iga Swiatek waxed on her love of music, movies, TV shows, books -- a gamut of cultural interests you might expect to hear about from a studious 21-year-old engaged by the arts.

But from the minute Swiatek walks on a tennis court, the arts vanish and a discipline far less fanciful surfaces: business. That was the word that came to mind tonight as Swiatek immediately took charge of her quarterfinal match this evening versus Coco Gauff.

With the laser focus that has taken her to the top of tennis this year, Swiatek commanded virtually every corner of the court to beat Gauff 6-0, 6-3 in 65 minutes. It lasted three minutes less than their previous match, that one coming in this year’s Roland Garros final, a 6-1, 6-3 victory for Swiatek. Said Swiatek this evening, “I'm pretty happy also that I was focused from A to Z because sometimes it's harder to stay focused when you're actually leading, you know? So today was just a great day in the office.” Swiatek has now beaten Gauff all four times they’ve played one another.

It was a few minutes past 5:30 p.m. when the match began. The conditions were cooler than usual for San Diego, the temperature 66 degrees with a slight breeze in the air. Yet Swiatek was so dialed-in from the start that she might just as well have been playing inside a geodesic dome. She broke Gauff’s serve at 30 to start the match, held at 30 and broke again. One point after another was earned courtesy of Swiatek’s ability to smother Gauff with footwork, footspeed and power. Said Swiatek, “I felt like I was really putting pressure on the first balls in rallies and then I could just play on my terms.”

Gauff was committed to matching Swiatek in the power department. Said Gauff, “she has a lot of winners, obviously gets a lot of great shots back, so you kind of feel like you have to do the same thing.” But when you take into account Gauff’s arsenal, this can get tricky. The Gauff backhand is superb, a laser of a drive she can strike emphatically from and into just about any corner of the court. This has always been her stronger shot and it’s gotten even better this year. The forehand, though, is far streakier. Hand it to Gauff for her commitment to the stroke and the work she’s put in to make it more reliable and forceful.

And yet, as swiftly as Swiatek took control of the opening set, Gauff’s exceptional prowess as a competitor continued to offer encouraging signs that a tight match was just around the corner. With Swiatek serving at 3-0, Gauff reached 30-40, only to lose that point in a forehand exchange. Two games later, Gauff held a 15-40 lead, this time surrendering those two opportunities with missed forehands.

The Swiatek Express continued at the start of the second set. Again, she broke Gauff in the opening game. Again, superb Swiatek movement and power—one forehand and backhand after another, snapped off with precision. “I just wanted to be really efficient,” said Swiatek. Certainly, Swiatek was far more in control this evening than in her opener yesterday, a 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 win over 28th-ranked Zheng Qinwen.

At last, down 0-6, 0-2 and love-30, Gauff held. But as tenaciously as she fought, there was little Gauff could do to derail Swiatek. A few net forays were impressive, but the mix of the slow hard court, the thick conditions and, most of all, Swiatek’s superb depth, power and precision stymied Gauff. “I felt like I was overplaying,” said Gauff, “with her you kind of sometimes feel like you have to overplay, just because she's playing so good.” Serving at 3-5, Gauff went down love-40 and fought off two match points, but on the third, struck a forehand long.

In Saturday’s semis, Swiatek will play Gauff’s doubles partner, Jessica Pegula. Swiatek has won three of their matches, all of them in 2022. Most recently they met in the quarterfinals of the US Open, Swiatek winning 6-3, 7-6 (4).

When I asked Swiatek how she juxtaposed her eclectic off-court interests with her approach to competition, her reply was what’s emerging as textbook Swiatek: “I feel like we all need balance.” All true. But in most cases throughout the 2022 tennis year, Swiatek has been the one keeping her rivals off-balance. As was once said in another context, it’s just business.