Swiatek tames feisty Saville to reach US Open third round

NEW YORK: World number one Iga Swiatek moved into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday (Aug 30) but not without a fight, taming feisty Daria Saville, who had warned she had the game to make the defending champion uncomfortable.

After a 6-0 6-1 rout of Sweden's Rebecca Peterson in her opening match, Swiatek did not look as at ease as she was made to work for a 6-3 6-4 win over the 322nd-ranked Australian spark plug.

"I just felt like I kind of prevailed, because that match wasn't easy," said Swiatek, who next meets the player she describes as her best friend on the WTA Tour Slovenian qualifier Kaja Juvan. "I'm just happy to be in the third round.

"For sure I want to improve some stuff, because I did some unforced errors.

"It's just the beginning of the tournament, so for sure I work on some stuff."

Saville had also impressed in her opener, sweeping past 17-year-old American Clervie Ngounoue 6-0 6-2 but the four-time Grand Slam winner represented a major step up in quality she could not match.

Believing she could get into Swiatek's head and possessed the type of game that could give her opponent trouble, Saville did just that in an uneven opening set.

Saville, who has only once before beaten a world number one, seven years ago against Angelique Kerber, got the match off to the best possible start breaking Swiatek at the first opportunity.

But Swiatek would immediately break back when the Australian gifted her the first of six double faults in the opening set.

They traded breaks a second time before Swiatek would get her third of the set and hold serve for a 1-0 lead.

The two players continued to swap breaks in the second before the Pole went in front to stay with another break at 3-2.

But Saville would not wave the white flag,