There’s no denying that Iga Swiatek is the best women’s tennis player on the planet, and the World No. 1 proved it with a moment of magic at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Saturday. During the first set of her third-round victory against No. 25 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6-4, 6-2), she hit a return so good it was impossible for her opponent to respond.

In reality, it was a stroke of luck, as Swiatek sliced Pavlyuchenkova’s serve high into the air. The return was hit with so much spin that as the ball came down and bounced just over the net, it spun back into Swiatek’s side of the court rendering it impossible for Pavlyuchenkova to reach.

Swiatek instantly apologized to Pavlyuchenkova who was stunned, and cameras then panned to the umpire who attempted to remain professional but couldn’t stop smiling. The US Open crowd rose to their feet, and shortly after Swiatek clinched the first set 6-4.

The World No. 1 is chasing her sixth Grand Slam and second success at the US Open. Swiatek already has five major career titles to her name but four of those have come at the French Open as she continues to dominate on clay.

Her only US Open crown came back in 2022 when she beat Ons Jabeur, ending a tough year for the Tunisian international as she lost consecutive Grand Slam finals. Swiatek went into the 2024 US Open not feeling 100 percent but is now looking like an unstoppable force.

Swiatek competed at the Paris Olympics but had to settle for a bronze medal, as Zheng Qinwen claimed an unlikely gold for the People’s Republic of China. Swiatek is now proud of her bronze medal, but at the time she felt disappointed not to go for gold.

“For sure it was more joyful than after a couple of days of, like, still thinking about the match that I lost,” Swiatek said. “So I think I kind of needed to digest that. After a while I got much more – I was much more proud of myself.

“I also realized how much baggage I had on my shoulders. I’m still happy that I could finish with a medal and kind of prove to myself that I could win a medal, yeah.”

Swiatek then lost in the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Masters and claimed she lacked focus in her first-round win at the US Open. The World No. 1 said during a press conference that she’s been working on herself, and it appears to be paying off in New York.

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“It’s not like I need to do that much work because I kind of have the tools, but sometimes it’s just hard to use them,” Swiatek added. “I couldn’t really focus well on my first-round match, and I wanted to improve that.

“I gave myself time and acceptance that it may not be perfect, but step by step I can, yeah, as you said, have better focus and have better mindset. Today it was for sure a little bit better, yeah.”