Iga Swiatek on Saturday won her first career US Open title, beating Ons Jabeur 6-2, 7-6(5) at Flushing Meadows for her third career major win. Swiatek got the victory despite pulling off an odd move on her first championship point.
Swiatek was leading 6-5 in the second set and up 40-30 on Jabeur’s serve. Before playing out the championship point, Swiatek went to her equipment area and switched racquets.
https://twitter.com/andr3w/status/1568721230936834052
The move was extremely odd considering the 21-year-old had gotten herself into position to win the title by using that racquet.
Swiatek was doing some odd things with her timing and pacing during the final set. She was seen holding her hand/racquet up to ask for more time before Jabeur served. She changed racquets on championship point.
Jabeur’s behavior wasn’t a whole lot better as she was seen kicking balls after disappointing points and damaging her equipment.
Swiatek’s racquet change though was highly unusual, especially since her equipment did not seem to be damaged. She wound up losing the game, but prevailed in the tiebreaker.
