Iga Swiatek hits out in US Open press conference after suffering major upset

Iga Swiatek said it wasn't "crazy" to lose a 5-0 lead to Qinwen Zheng at the US Open. The No. 8 seed was cruising when she won the first five games in 20 minutes. But the Olympic champion then won seven games in a row to win the first set, and went on to claim a 7-5 6-3 victory. It was the second time in two days that the qualifier came back from 0-5 down, as she did the same in the final set of her third-round match against Madison Keys on Saturday, winning 7-5 in the decider. And after becoming the latest victim of a Zheng comeback, Swiatek refuted suggestions that this defeat would linger. The 2022 champion was asked how she would "internalise and grow from" losing that opening set, but Swiatek thought it wasn't that deep. "It's just one match. Like, I'll try to play the same way as usual," she said, shrugging. "What do you mean, like, do you think it's something crazy, you know? You can lose a set from any score, so nothing special about that. Just that's what happened and that's it." The former world No. 1 also explained that she never panicked after taking a 5-0 lead. Zheng simply stepped it up, while she started making more mistakes. "For sure, I felt like I started missing too many shots, she started playing, and I let her back into the match," Swiatek explained. "No, but honestly, my focus was the same as always. I wanted to play the same as always. Just started to miss too much, wanted to adjust it, but nothing kind of worked at that point. I knew I'm going to have another chance, and I wanted to use it, but I missed them all." The six-time Major champion is often a good frontrunner, but she was unable to convert all three set points she had in the opener. Then, the second set got away from her. Iga Swiatek blew a 5-0 lead to lose 7-5 6-3 (Image: Getty) "I never judge that I'm going to have a lot of time. That's why I usually am able to close the set with a pretty straightforward score, because I'm good at, I don't know, like, even imagining that the scoreline is not like that and just pushing and being intense all the time," she added. "But today, I wouldn't say it had anything to do with mentality. It was more that I started making mistakes from easy balls and Qinwen stopped doing mistakes. She played the balls better." The world No. 8 also called the trainer early in the second set and received treatment on her left thigh. But she clarified that her quad was simply "tired", and that it had no influence on the match. Swiatek's fourth-round exit means that this is the first year she has not won a Grand Slam title since 2021. The 25-year-old has also not reached the quarter-finals of a Major since the Aussie Open in January. EXPRESS SPORT ON FB!Get all the best sports news and much more on our Facebook page