This time it's different.
Iga Swiatek did not allow a repeat of last year's spiral.
Instead, she got back on track.
He was back on track as a regular late in tournaments, something he has become accustomed to over the course of five Grand Slam titles.
She's back on track to defend her status as the best female player in the world. She's back on track to live up to her own standards.
Poland's Swiatek beat Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 27th in the world, 6-4, 6-2 in straight sets in the third round of the U.S. Open on Saturday night at Arthur Ashe Stadium. It took Swiatek just one minute and 32 seconds to do it.
Despite her already illustrious resume, Swiatek is still just 23 years old and has been the underdog in some of the sport's biggest upsets recently.
And while she has won four of the last five Grand Slam tournaments at Roland Garros (three consecutive and four of the last five), she has yet to enjoy the same kind of success outside of them.
Earlier this month, Swiatek unfortunately finished with a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics.
Before that, she was upset by unseeded Yulia Putintseva in the third round at Wimbledon in July, a loss that was eerily similar to Swiatek's loss to unseeded Alize Cornet in the third round at Wimbledon last year.
Then, a month after last year, Swiatek was eliminated from the 2023 U.S. Open after losing to No. 20 Jelena Ostapenko, the year after she won the tournament in 2022.
So Saturday's match was much the same situation Swiatek faced last year, facing a Top 30 opponent on the opening weekend of the U.S. Open after a disappointing showing at Wimbledon.
But this time Swiatek fought back.
She will next face No. 16 Lyudmila Samsonova in the fourth round.
Swiatek improved to 2-0 against the 33-year-old Pavlyuchenkova. In addition to Saturday's win, Swiatek also beat Pavlyuchenkova in the round of 64 at the 2023 Italian Open.
Swiatek broke Pavlyuchenkova's serve early in the match and quickly took a 2-0 lead in the first set, and before Pavlyuchenkova trailed at 4-5, Swiatek held serve in the 10th game to win the opening set.
Pavlyuchenkova had chances to gain momentum in the second set but missed them.
After winning the opening game, she led 30-15 in the second game as Swiatek looked a bit tired.
But Swiatek fought back to win the match and then broke Pavlyuchenkova in the third game – forcing an error during a spectacular rally at the net early in the match – to take a 2-1 lead.
Swiatek never looked back and just kept running the rest of the way with ease.
As a result, Swiatek lost her world number one ranking, a position she held for 75 weeks after losing at last year's U.S. Open.
She has since reclaimed her spot, but No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, who briefly usurped her spot, is still looming at the other end of the rankings.
Swiatek owns an 8-4 record against Sabalenka, including a win in the 2022 U.S. Open semifinals.
Ahead of this year's U.S. Open, Swiatek spoke candidly about how pressure was affecting her performance.
This is an area she has been working on, claiming that she feels freed from “burdens” from the past that were holding her back from performing at her best.
So far, so good.
