Iga Swiatek defeats Ons Jabeur to win the 2022 US Open title

20-year-old had been pushed to the number one position after Ashleigh Barty's unexpected retirement in March 2022.

Despite the spontaneity of how it played out, Swiatek was inspired by the prospect of leading the WTA rankings. 

She then secured 37 straight matches, including the French Open, and after her 6-2 7-6 victory against Ons Jabeur, Swiatek is now the champion at Flushing Meadows. 

"I needed to stay composed and focus on the goals. It's New York -- it's so loud, it's so crazy," she said. "It's really mind-blowing for me. I'm really proud I could handle it mentally."

Her path en route to the title was filled with challenges. She had dropped the opening set of a fourth-round match to Jule Niemeier and rallied to finish with a 6-0 thrashing. 

She avoided a decider in the quarterfinals against Jessica Pegula by winning the second set through a tiebreak. Swiatek was trailing 4-2 in the third set to Aryna Sabalenka but ended up winning the last four games of the match.

Her final match against Jabeur progressed into a second-set tiebreak; She was down 5-4 when the world number one struck a forehand winner that landed on the line.

The next point witnessed Jabeur's forehand travelling wide; after two more points, Swiatek pocketed the set. The Polish player won her last ten finals in straight sets. 

She lost her first final match at 17 when she was ranked number 115 to her opponent Polona Hercog in Lugano, Switzerland.

Swiatek has snapped up 17 of 18 career finals in International Tennis Federation events. The US Open marks Swiatek's seventh title of the year. 

The only other person to have done so is Serena Williams back in 2014. The American was also the first top seed to bag the title, and Swiatek has now replicated the record. 

Swiatek is now the youngest woman to secure her third major title since the then 20-year-old Maria Sharapova's record in 2008. Swiatek also becomes the ninth player of the Open Era to win her third Grand Slam before turning 22. 

The 2022 Roland Garros winner is the first WTA athlete to win two Slams in one season since Angelique Kerber in 2016. Jabeur admitted to having struggled against Swiatek in the US Open final. 

"I really tried, but Iga didn't make it easy for me," Jabeur said. "I don't like her very much now, but it's okay. We'll get that [major] title sometime soon."

Swiatek and Jabeur, competing in their second primary season's final, will now become world number one and two, respectively. 

They are credited with the most wins on the Hologic WTA Tour over the past two years and now stand one-two in the Race to the WTA Finals leaderboard.