Swiatek on song as Poland close in on Finals spot

Iga Swiatek produced a performance befitting her newfound status as the world No. 1, brushing aside Romania’s Mihaela Buzarnescu on home soil in Radom to put Poland on the cusp of a place in November’s Billie Jean King Cup Finals.

Anything but unnerved by her first competitive outing as the world’s best player, or indeed by the special opportunity to play for her country in front of home fans in the women’s world cup of tennis, the 20-year-old breezed to a 6-1 6-0 victory in just 55 minutes.

Her slick triumph - the second time in her spectacular 18-match-winning run that she has dropped just a solitary game in a match and the eighth bagel she has dished out in total during that spell - gave Poland a 2-0 advantage over Horia Tecau’s side following Magda Linette’s three-set win over Irina-Camelia Begu earlier in the day.

It was yet another display of the form and fortitude that has seen Swiatek dominate the WTA Tour this year – and what an occasion to deliver it: in front of home fans, the name of her country on her back, and all while ranked the best player in the world.

“I’m much more confident right now,” Swiatek admitted. “I feel like I have grown up for sure. I’ve developed every aspect of my game. The streak that I have on the WTA Tour has given me so much confidence that right now I can just put pressure on my opponents and that’s really a privilege.

“I’ll be working on my new position as well and I hope to stay there for a while.”

On this evidence, that looks very likely. For Buzarnescu, this was always going to be an uphill battle. The pride the 33-year-old feels in representing her country (she abandoned plans to travel to tournaments in the USA direct from Australia in order to compete for her country this weekend) wasn’t to be sufficient arsenal to challenge a player in such prolific form.

Besieged by injuries in recent years and ranked 122 spots below the Pole, the former world No. 20 appeared some way from her best on Friday but, then again, her opponent rarely allowed her to be. Even Buzarnescu’s lefty status couldn’t unsettle Swiatek, who has now won her last nine matches against lefthanded players.

“I like playing against lefties,” Swiatek admitted. “We have Maja Chwalinska in our team – she’s also a leftie – and I was practicing with her. She’s one of my best friends. I got used to it on our practices here. It wasn’t a huge challenge for me because I also played against [Angelique] Kerber and [Petra] Kvitova the last couple of weeks.”

And won against them of course, just as she has recorded wins against fellow Grand Slam champions Simona Halep and Naomi Osaka this year. Swiatek is operating on a different level this year, and the Polish team have known for some time they have a unique talent in their ranks.

“It’s something absolutely special,” said Linette, the opening match hero, of Swiatek’s rise. “I’m so happy to be witnessing it from the very beginning when she didn’t have a ranking. I saw it from the beginning how great she was, so I’m really pleased, it was something that she was definitely capable of.”

Saturday’s deciding day in Radom could be something of a procession, with Swiatek set to face Begu, who she defeated 6-1 6-0 in the third round at Wimbledon last year, in the opening match of the day.

Begu was off the pace for the majority of the early exchanges against Linette on Friday but will be encouraged by the way she battled back to win the second set before eventually succumbing 1-6 4-6 6-2.

“It was a slow start, I wasn’t exactly in the rhythm,” Begu admitted. “I started to focus more and treat things more simple in the second set. I started to serve a little bit better. I was just fighting, trying to get in the rhythm and play better tennis than in the first set.”

Linette had chances to finish the match earlier, having held a 30-0 advantage at 5-4 in the second set, but ultimately rattled through the third to seal her 10th singles win for her country. Only Agnieszka Radwanska (who was watching in the stands), Urszula Radwanska and Aleksandra Olsza have managed more.

Doing so on a rare outing in front of home fans made the moment extra special for the world No. 58.

"I like it, [although] it’s stressful because we’re not really used to it," Linette said of playing at home. "We play all the time in different countries and the crowd are usually against us. It was wonderful that we have so many people behind us today.

"I’m absolutely loving it, but it’s definitely something to get used to."