‘Star striking’ – Iga Swiatek inspired by chat with Serena Williams

NEW YORK – Iga Swiatek said a chat with Serena Williams as the 23-time Grand Slam champion toured the US Open grounds on Aug 31 was a “positive kick” before her near-flawless 6-4, 6-2 third-round victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

World No. 1 Swiatek was spotted talking with Williams, 42, in the players’ gym at Flushing Meadows.

Far from finding it a disruption to her match preparations, the Pole said it “more inspired me and it gave me, like, a positive kick, so it was nice.”

Williams, wearing a throwback look of a short pleated denim skirt and jacket, returned to the venue where she lifted the trophy six times, sharing the record for most US Open women’s singles titles with Chris Evert.

She last played at the tournament in 2022, when she had already said she planned to “evolve away” from tennis once that year’s final Grand Slam was over.

“It was really nice to see her,” Swiatek, 23, said. “She has a lot of positive energy. It’s nice that she came on-site and she was chatting with the players.

“Even though we met before and for like a couple of years we have been on the same sides and on tour together, she’s still like star-striking me.

“It was nice that she approached me, because I wouldn’t, for sure, find courage to do that. She’s really nice and really positive.”

Williams, who remains busy with various business enterprises and welcomed the birth of her second daughter in 2023, also caught men’s world No. 1 Jannik Sinner’s win over Christopher O’Connell.

Her old friend Caroline Wozniacki, back on tour after a maternity break, joked that she was “pretty mad” that Williams was not in attendance for her match as well as she eased past Jessika Ponchet 6-3, 6-2.

“I’m happy that she’s following tennis and my game because she told me that she’s cheering for me,” Swiatek said. “It’s always nice to hear that from somebody like Serena.”

The 2022 US Open champion, certainly looked sharp in her win over 27th-ranked Pavlyuchenkova, a potentially tricky opponent with a French Open runner-up finish and seven other Grand Slam quarter-finals on her resume.

Swiatek will meet another Russian, 16th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova, for a place in the quarter-finals. Samsonova booked her spot by beating American Ashlyn Krueger 6-1, 6-1.

Home hope and sixth seed Jessica Pegula advanced to a last-16 tie against 18th seed Diana Shnaider of Russia after a 6-3, 6-3 win over Spaniard Jessica Bouzas Maneiro.

French Open and Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini of Italy beat Kazakhstani Yulia Putintseva 6-3, 6-4 and faces Karolina Muchova. The Czech, who is rediscovering her best form after 10 months out with a wrist injury, outclassed Anastasia Potapova 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Beatriz Haddad Maia booked a tie against Dane Wozniacki after winning a controversial video review which derailed her opponent Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Kalinskaya was 2-0 ahead in the opening set when she called for a video review, claiming that her Brazilian opponent had won a point off a double bounce.

Chair umpire Miriam Bley consulted her tablet screen and decided that the shot was legitimate and the point was allowed to stand.

Kalinskaya never recovered her composure and won only two of the next 14 games. AFP, REUTERS