How the 2025 Hard Court Win Record Holder Pushed Past a Rival
One half of the United Cup semi-final has brought two of the women’s top four together for another clash, and with just a little over a week before the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open commences officially. Second-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland faced off against American fourth-ranked Coco Gauff in the USA vs Poland match. The two have played 16 times as of today, most recently at the Madrid Open in Spain. The American has now beaten the 2025 Wimbledon champ four times in a row.
Weapons the Two Wielded
It’s been noticeable for some time now that Swiatek has been slowly inching toward a more aggressive, finishing style in her game. Her ability of maddening consistency, outlasting and surviving every point, is what set her apart from the rest early on, and what left her untouchable for a long time. Nobody knew how to handle such an enduring game, and all the while, the player is frighteningly agile and quick. There’s been evidence of the changes recently, though; more wild, unforced errors, shorter rallies, and more winners counted in each match played. For this match, she had seven forehand winners and 13 backhand winners, both figures higher than Gauff’s six forehand and five backhand winners total.
On to the American 2025 Roland Garros champ, who showed up with sizeable changes of her own. Only hers helped her out more than harmed her, unlike her rival. Gauff has long struggled with serving consistently, ending the 2025 season with more than 400 double faults. The earlier 2024 season ended the same, Gauff coming out on top, where nobody wishes to, with 430 double faults.
She is starting the season off strong, focusing on her obvious shortcomings, and giving herself a fighting chance to start and potentially win more points within a match, and from a controlling angle. While three aces and four double faults may leave one wanting a bit more, a 75% rate of first service accuracy is invaluable, even more with a 73% first service win rate to aid. A stronger standing than other times, and certainly better than the Polish second rank’s rates of 59% and 56%. The first set is where these two battled it out, pushing the other and themselves, essentially a game of holding serves until Gauff’s final break to seal the first set
How Gauff Took it Home
Movement and rallying were balancing equally between the two, the weight of points going back and forth. Gauff held the edge there ultimately, as a big-hitting game isn’t so new to her as it is for the Pole. After a well-fought first set, the American shot to 5-0 quickly, artfully controlling all the forms of rallies. From hitting deep and keeping Swiatek on the run, even while running herself, to playing very few angles but still keeping her rival pushed on the back foot and unable to attack, it all left Swiatek deeply uncomfortable. Under that pressure, she uncharacteristically lashed out, perhaps trying to be confident in her new game style.
It left her with more bad than good, as she swung out fully at shots and balls where she had little stability and balance, hence her high unforced error count of 36. Breaks were few, only managing to break the American twice out of the eight chances she saw. Not a shared problem, as Gauff’s commanding rhythm rewarded her with breaking five times out of the 11 chances found. A steady holding serve, breaking the opponent more than she’s being broken, and hitting 16 unforced errors less than her, Gauff found that win convincingly. Stumbling a bit with nerves at 5-0, had Swiatek win two more games, but it wasn’t enough for a comeback. Gauff added another win to the count, prevailing 6-4, 6-2, and brought the countries to a tie 1-1.
