Pressured Iga Swiatek won in mini comeback: "Not easy"

9/28/2023, 7:39:34 AM

Highlights: Iga Swiatek beat home player Mai Hontama 6-4,7-5 in the second round. The Polish world number two lost first place in the rankings after losing in the fourth round of the US Open due to fatigue symptoms. She took an over three-week break and is now back as a winner in Tokyo after some problems. "It wasn't easy," says the Polish star of her comeback. "When I won five straight games in the first set, I showed that I could play my game," she says.

Iga Swiatek lost first place in the rankings after losing in the fourth round of the US Open due to fatigue symptoms. She took an over three-week break and is now back as a winner in Tokyo after some problems. "It wasn't easy," says the Polish.

The Polish world number two, who was number one for 75 straight weeks, beat home player Mai Hontama, ranked 148 in the world, 6-4,7-5 in the second round after being sidelined in the first round, a so-called bye.

Switatek took a break after the early exit at the U.S. Open and stood over the major tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico, to recover.

In the first set, Hontama had two fights up and 4-1 and in the second the Japanese picked up a disadvantage of 1-5 to 5-5.

First time Swiatek played in Japan

"When I won five straight games in the first set, I showed that I could play my game," Swiatek told the WTA website.

It was the first time Swiatek played in Japan and she can breathe a sigh of relief after moving on.

"It wasn't easy and I'm happy that I was able to solve the problems and move on in the tournament," says Swiatek, who after one match has already reached the quarterfinals where she will face Russian Veronika Kudermetova.