Iga Swiatek battled past
Jessica Pegula at the
US Open and a racquet change was the reason for the comeback.
The match was a fairly competitive one as Pegula played a strong match and initially, she was the better player. Pegula jumped out to a 3-2 lead with a break up and a 30-0 lead in the next game. Swiatek opted to switch racquets and after doing so, she won four points in a row to break back and then dropped only two more points en route to the first set win.
Pegula was stunned and after the match, she said:
“It was definitely a huge momentum change. I think it helped her a lot. So it was a good move by her. She knew the ball was flying on her a little bit and needed to change racquets."
Swiatek added:
“Today I realised that I need extra help from the racquet and the string itself because Jessie is such a tough opponent that you can just lose two more points. I realised that it may be better to switch racquets even though I'm only switching after the ball change. I think it helped me a lot. I think also the conditions helped me because it was colder today. The ball wasn't flying as much. I don't know if it actually was the key or something. For sure I wasn't thinking about the strings, and I just focused on the right stuff after the change.”
