Iga Swiatek Sends ‘Bad Sign’ to WTA Players After Cincinnati Win, Claims Ex-ATP Pro

Iga Swiatek will be chasing her third singles title of the season at the US Open, the main draw of which starts on August 24.

Iga Swiatek Sends ‘Bad Sign’ to WTA Players After Cincinnati Win, Claims Ex-ATP Pro

Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Jimmie48 Photography)

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Iga Swiatek is in New York chasing for the revamped US Open mixed doubles she is playing alongside Casper Ruud. She played the first match of this tournament a day after clinching her second title of the season.

On Monday (August 18), Swiatek beat Jasmine Paolini in straight sets to win the Cincinnati Masters for the first time. The win surprised her, because she didn’t expect herself to claim a title on a faster hardcourt in Cincinnati. Her win is a bad sign for the rest of the WTA, according to former player from America, Steve Johnson. He said on the Nothing Major podcast:

Everyone is talking about Coco [Gauff] and [Aryna] Sabalenka, the other players, where it’s like okay let’s forget about Iga for a second. She was kind of in the background. And she is playing extremely well.

Prior to this season, she was a two-time semifinalist in Cincinnati, losing the matches in 2023 and 2024 to eventual champions Gauff and Sabalenka, respectively. En route to improving her head-to-head record over Paolini to 6-0, Swiatek won all her matches in straight sets, including in the semifinals against 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina. It was also her first win in a WTA 1000 event on the North American hardcourt swing held before the US Open.

But I think Iga is right there. She is winning all the big tournaments, she is playing well, she has always been a strong competitor. If she can prove this on a faster surface that is a bad sign for everyone else.

Steve Johnson added

The Cincinnati Masters was her second title of the season after her Wimbledon win. She recorded in the final a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Amanda Anisimova to also lift her career’s first grass-court title in her second final on the surface. Before winning Wimbledon, she lost to Jessica Pegula in the Bad Homburg Open final.

Martina Navratilova backs Iga Swiatek to win the US Open

Iga Swiatek was making deep runs in almost every tournament she was playing earlier this season. But she was not reaching the finals and winning titles. Even on the clay swing, she faltered.

Iga Swiatek (via X/The Tennis Letter)
Iga Swiatek (via X/The Tennis Letter)

Everything changed when she made it to the final of the Bad Homburg Open. At SW19, she lifted her first title since winning her fourth Roland Garros trophy last year. Since June, she has played three finals and won two titles, so 18-time Grand Slam singles champion Martina Navratilova is convinced that the old Swiatek is back, so she picked the 24-year-old to win the US Open title as well.

Iga Swiatek in the women’s for me, even though she hasn’t had the best summer. The Wimbledon win and the way she just conducted herself the whole tournament does mean that the old Iga is back.

Martina Navratilova told Sky Sports

Swiatek lifted the US Open in 2022 by beating Ons Jabeur. Last year, however, her run ended in the quarterfinals with a straight-set defeat to eventual runner-up Jessica Pegula.

Swiatek has already arrived in New York. She is participating in the revamped US Open mixed doubles along with Casper Ruud. The pair defeated home favorites Madison Keys and Frances Tiafoe in their first round, before knocking out Caty McNally and Lorenzo Musetti in the quarterfinals.

The Pole and the Norwegian aces will next lock horns with first seeds Pegula and Jack Draper who eliminated the pair of Carlos Alcaraz and Emma Raducanu in the first round and Daniil Medvedev and Mirra Andreeva in the quarterfinals. If Swiatek and Ruud reach the final, they will meet home favorites Danielle Collins and Christian Harrison or the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori.

Also read: Jasmine Paolini Wishes Health and Recovery for Jannik Sinner After Losing the Cincinnati Open Final