American-Australian 19-Year-Old Stellar Korea Open Debut Comes to an End by World Number Two
World Number Two Iga Swiatek of Poland made short work of Maya Joint today in the upper half of the Semifinal draw in Seoul, South Korea. The two have mirrored each other quite a bit in the tournament so far, such as this tournament appearance being both their debuts, and their last matches before meeting shared the same score. Swiatek defeated Czech doubles specialist Barbora Krejcikova in the Quarterfinals 6-0, 6-3, and Joint did the same to her opponent, Danish Clara Tauson. The 2025 Wimbledon Champion and World Number Two showed her might in full force in defeating Joint with a 6-0, 6-2 score, just a game short of the two’s favorite numbers. Here’s how Swiatek made her mark.
Game Styles and Similarities
The two athletes are again scarily similar in many aspects, and this similarity extends to their games. They’re lithe, quick-footed, agile, and yet impressively strong for their frames. They’re serves aren’t necessarily the weapons that bolster their games, but it’s not neglected in the least. Both of them, but particularly Swiatek and her serve, especially in this match, where she absolutely dominated, are solid and consistent, something to start the point so that it sets them up to tear it up on the court with impeccable footwork and calculated shots all over. It’s a great formula that looks perfect on paper and better in practice. They both have it, but it only benefited one.
What Worked and What Didn’t
For one, Swiatek’s lengthy, successful experience could be the close and shut, cop out answer for this. Joint is doing impressive things at just 19 years old, the same way that Swiatek was and is herself. The World Number Two won her first Grand Slam at Joint’s current age and currently has six Majors. She is older and stronger, she has more experience on the tour and has played many matches with more players with different game styles, which gives her more knowledge on how to deal with more situations, which all comes to play here. The knowledge and ball-handling Swiatek showed were pure class and put Joint’s game to pieces quickly. They’re both excellent ralliers and ball scramblers, so the Polish champion became a better one, leaving Joint at a loss. Swiatek was on the offensive and on the front foot from the get-go, and Joint either did not or likely could not find any appropriate response until the beginning of the second set, when she finally managed to break.
Joint didn’t do enough to force much change in a timely manner, and stuck with her own default game strategy and style, even though it only paid her in punishment. She’s done very well in developing her rally game so far; her groundstrokes are deep, into the baseline and no-man’s land. Even though she’s a runner, she stays right on the baseline. As a result, she doesn’t lose any ground or power; the Australian-American can switch from steadily defending in a rally, beating her time to brutally attacking and ending a point crosscourt or down the line, often her preferred path.
Though the young 19-year-old and 45th-ranked in the world did this routine well each time, Swiatek did not allow her to do it many times. She took control of most of the points with varied power, through her massively placed serves and intelligent rallies. Swiatek used short and long angles to pull Joint all over the court, never allowing her a comfortable moment to set up to hit a solid shot, and the younger athlete seemed unused to hitting moving shots, so it derailed her quickly. Meanwhile, it placed Swiatek in the perfect position, time after time, to come in to put away the ball where Joint was not, the open court always available. This strategy was particularly effective in the first set, which went by quickly in just 25 minutes, as Iga largely dictated each point this way.
