“Yesterday me too,” Iga Swiatek shares the possible reason for her loss against Aryna Sabalenka at the Cincinnati Open semifinals

Iga Swiatek shares the reason for her semifinal loss against Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open.

“Yesterday me too,” Iga Swiatek shares the possible reason for her loss against Aryna Sabalenka at the Cincinnati Open semifinals

Iga Swiatek (Image via Imago)

Iga Swiatek suffered a bit of an unexpected loss against Aryna Sabalenka in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Open. The Polish star had dominated their last three encounters, but following her unfamiliar defeat to Sabalenka, she has thrown light on her reason for poor performance.

Swiatek has been a standout performer this season. She has won five titles already, including the French Open and three Masters 1000 events. She arrived at the Cincinnati Open on the back of a singles bronze medal win at the Paris Olympics. Swiatek further opened her Cincinnati campaign, beating French qualifier Varvara Gracheva in three sets.

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In the third round, she triumphed over Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2 to earn a place in the next round. In the quarterfinals, she came from behind to beat 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 to reach the semifinals. The World No.1 run came to an end against Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets.

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However, her match against Sabalenka was played in the day, with the sun visibly shining brightly. A fan pointed out on social media that Swiatek hardly saw the ball during the semifinal match. “Me trying to see the ball during the day matches in Cincy,” a fan wrote via X with reference to that situation.

Swiatek agreed with the fan, admitting that was what happened to her.

Yeah. Yesterday me too.
Iga Swiatek reacted on X

Swiatek has won two hard-court titles this season, the first at the Qatar Open and the second in Indian Wells. While the semi-final defeat was unfortunate for her, considering that it was at the back of continuous surface changes for her, this should leave the Pole’s team with more positive.

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Iga Swiatek ties with Justin Henin’s record of 8th most weeks off No. 1 all-time

Iga Swiatek starts her 117th week as World No.1, despite not winning the Cincinnati Open. The 23-year-old has been at the Top of the WTA ranking since the start of the 2024 season. She lost the coveted top position in September last year after failing to get to the latter stages of the US Open.

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (via Imago)

Aryna Sabalenka took the position following her runners-up finish at the USA’s Grand Slam event. But the Belarusian failed to maintain the position for long, as Swiatek snatched it following her triumph at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. Swiatek is tied with Justin Henin for 8th most weeks of all-time in WTA history.

Steffi Graf leads 377 weeks spent as World No. 1 followed by Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams with 332 and 319 weeks. Chris Evert takes fourth position with 260 weeks as Martina Hingis, Monica Seles, and Ash Barty finish as fifth, sixth, and seventh, respectively.

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