It was looking like a long night for Iga Swiatek.
She was out of sorts, unable to find a rhythm.
She dropped five of the first six games of her third-round match against No. 29 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.
Swiatek’s fifth consecutive Grand Slam of at least reaching the Round of 16 appeared to be in jeopardy.
Then, everything changed.
Swiatek, the No. 2 seed from Poland, found her form.
Not only did she advance, but she found a way to win that opening set, moving on with a gritty 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory Saturday at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
“Anna was playing great. She was playing all these risky balls, like she once did against me in Dubai. I was trying to make fewer mistakes,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview after reaching the second week at the U.S. Open for the fifth consecutive year. “She was making more mistakes. I had nothing to lose because I was losing pretty [badly]. In the end, I just went for it because what more could I do?”
Down 5-1, Swiatek won six of the next seven games to force a tiebreak.
She fought off four set points and dominated the tiebreak.
It was on serve in the second set, until Swiatek broke Kalinskaya’s serve at 4-4 and served out the match.
Neither player was overly sharp, the two combining for 67 unforced errors and 16 double-faults.
Swiatek did finish with 28 winners and was at her best when it was required.
“I just needed to be solid,” Swiatek said. “I didn’t know how, but I was playing simple.”
The 2022 U.S. Open champion, Swiatek has struggled in recent matches.
In the previous round, she dropped a set to world No. 66 Suzan Lamens. Swiatek will meet No. 13 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova — a 6-0, 6-1 winner over Laura Siegemund — in the fourth round on Monday.