US Open: Iga Swiatek admits she didn’t enjoy beating ‘best friend’ Kaja Juvan 6-0 6-1… as world No 1 reveals new playlist fueling her title tilt

Defending champion Iga Swiatek admitted she took no pleasure in dominating her ‘best friend’ Kaja Juvan to reach the US Open fourth round.

Swiatek took just 49 minutes to swat aside Juvan on Friday, winning 6-0 6-1 on Louis Armstong Stadium. The Pole surrendered just eight points as she raced away with the first set.

The pair had been out for a meal in New York just last week, and Swiatek spoke of their enduring friendship on the WTA Tour before the match. 

They shared a warm hug at the net following the climax of the match but Swiatek later opened up on the mixed emotions of beating someone so familiar.

‘I didn’t like that I was winning with my best friend but I knew I had to be focused and not think about that,’ said the 22-year-old.

Swiatek took just 49 minutes to swat aside Juvan on Friday, winning 6-0 6-1 in New York

‘It’s like playing your sister. I don’t have many friends and she’s my best friend so that was the toughest, for sure.’

Juvan did at least avoid the dreaded ‘double-bagel’, finally getting a game on the board 40 minutes into the match for 3-1 in the second and raising her arms aloft in mock triumph to the acclaim of the Louis Armstrong crowd.

But it was only delaying the inevitable, with Swiatek wrapping up another clinical, statement victory – she beat Rebecca Peterson by the same scoreline in the first round – in well under an hour.

‘It’s like playing your sister. I don’t have many friends and she’s my best friend,’ Swiatek said

The victory took Swiatek into the fourth round, where she will face No 20 seed Jelena Ostapenko. 

Swiatek revealed after beating Juvan that she has finally changed the soundtrack to her bid for Grand Slam glory. 

For a while, her pre-match playlist included Led Zeppelin, Gorillaz and Pearl Jam.  

‘I had to change that because I know these songs so well,’ she revealed. ‘I had the same playlist for like two and a half years. Now it’s the Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin, Smoke on the Water, ACDC.’