Iga Swiatek now 4-0 against Jessica Pegula in 2022 after San Diego semis win

SAN DIEGO—The tennis lasted just over two hours. Add in a rain delay after the first set that interrupted play for 65 minutes. When this San Diego Open semifinal between Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula was over Saturday, Swiatek had won a rough-and-tumble three-setter, 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. But if you boiled this match down to its essence, two games most vividly told the story.

Swiatek served in the third set at 2-2, 15-40. On the first break point, a Pegula forehand sailed long. On the next, Swiatek struck an untouchable crosscourt forehand. There followed three more deuces and yet another Pegula break opportunity, this one lost with a wide backhand. Eventually, Swiatek held serve.

Off the hook, likely attuned to the adage that the first game after a long one can often go quickly, a keenly alert Swiatek rapidly went ahead love-40. At 15-40, Pegula feathered a short backhand slice crosscourt. Swiatek dashed forward quickly and drove a backhand down-the-line so hard and deep that Pegula could only poke it into the net. As the entire world has seen throughout 2022, Swiatek is a superb frontrunner. Swiftly, Swiatek won eight of the next 11 points to close it out and reach her ninth final of the year.

This was one of those cases where Swiatek found a way to win despite hardly playing her best. Credit Pegula, though, for playing airtight tennis at the late stages of the first set. Down 4-2, Pegula won four straight games with a mix of crisp ball-striking and sound movement that triggered a series of sharp placements and Swiatek miscues. “I thought I wasn't giving away a lot of free points,” said Pegula. “I thought I returned pretty well, but I think I was getting a lot of depth on my shots . . . a good balance of kind of not overplaying.”

As it usually goes in tennis, the rain delay helped the player trailing. “I think it was a time for her to reset,” said Pegula, “where maybe I could have gotten some more momentum going into the second.” Swiatek also clearly altered her game plan. Said Swiatek, “I felt like sometimes I was playing too risky and losing control over my shots . . . I kind of wanted to just put the ball in and see what Jesse's gonna play and, um, make my game more solid and I did that.”

In the second set, Swiatek began hitting far more high balls. Many an early rally shot jumped out of Pegula’s comfortable hitting zone, forcing the American to counter with less pace and depth. From there, Swiatek resumed her familiar command post as rally dictator, one drive after another struck deep, hard and occasionally viciously angled. Winning 12 of the first 15 points to start the second set, Swiatek quickly leveled the match.

Asked if she had any superstitions that helped her play well, Swiatek countered with another approach: routines—so many small steps and big movements she’s taken to assure she’s in the right place to compete point to point. Be it amid the pressures and demands of life as number one, competing in the wake of transglobal jet lag or facing challenges from such formidable Americans as Coco Gauff last night and Pegula this afternoon, Swiatek this year has emerged as a master of match management.