Iga Swiatek forced to ‘find a new level’ as she makes winning start in Ostrava

Iga Swiatek said she needed to reach ‘another level’ to find her way through her Ostrava opener against Ajla Tomljanovic.

Swiatek won the US Open last month to claim her first hardcourt major, although she has not played since that triumph in New York.

She was made to work hard by Tomljanovic, although the Australian ultimately had to retire with a knee injury with the scores 7-5, 2-2 in Swiatek’s favour.

However, despite the way the match ended, Swiatek feels she was forced to really raise her game in order to survive, and that’s a very good thing.

“We played in Toronto and I saw in the US Open how well Ajla played, it seems she’s really on a roll and she’s playing better and better,” Iga Swiatek said.

“It was a great match and it’s unfortunate that something happened, I hope she’s going to recover quickly.

“I’ve had a three-week break from playing matches, and after such an intense time it seems like a lot.

“I felt like I need to get back to the rhythm, and it wasn’t easy. I had a bye, and Ajla already played a few matches. So I felt like I need to catch up.

“But I’m pretty happy this match was so intense, because I feel like I had to go to another level and it’s going to prepare me for the next matches.”

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