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Swiatek Aims To Be Poland’s First Grand Slam Singles Champ
· Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
On Saturday Iga Swiatek will try to become the first singles player from Poland to win a Grand Slam singles title when she duels American Sofia Kenin in the Roland Garros final.
Swiatek has only played the 2020 Australian Open champion once before, in 2016 in the Roland Garros junior third round, beating Kenin 64 75.
Polish players have come close a few times to achieving Grand Slam history, most recently Agnieszka Radwanska was in the 2012 Wimbledon final where she lost to Serena Williams 16 75 26..
Long before Radwanska there was Jadwiga Jedrzejowska (pictured), who competed in three Grand Slam finals: WIMBLEDON-1937 (lost to Dorothy Round), US OPEN-1937 (lost to Anita Lizana) and FRENCH OPEN- 1939 (lost to Simonne Mathieu). Jadwiga won the French Open doubles title in 1939. She also competed at the US Open in 1962 main draw – at age 50!
Caroline Wozniacki is Polish – both of her parents are Polish – but she was born in Denmark and she won her Australian Open title playing for the flag of Denmark, where her father Piotr competed as a professional soccer player.
Jerzy Janowicz reached the Wimbledon semifinal in 2013, defeated by eventual champion Andy Murray in four sets.
Former top 10 player Wojtek Fibak reached the quarterfinal round of three of the four majors.
Swiatek is poised two sets away from not only winning Roland Garros but also becoming the first Polish player from the Open Era to win a Grand Slam singles championship.
Iga · Roland Garros · Swiatek
