It can’t get any better for Iga Swiatek at the moment. Fresh off winning Wimbledon and the Cincinnati Open, the Pole has carried the form to the US Open Swing, dominating her opponents on the hard courts. On Thursday, when she got past world No. 66 Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 to reach the third round, the 24-year-old left behind the likes of Serena Williams and other tennis greats with a unique record.

With her win today, Swiatek has become the first-ever Women’s Singles player in the open era to reach the third round at all Grand Slam events for the first six years of a single decade. In the 2020s, the 6x Grand Slam champ has a remarkable record of 23 wins out of 23 matches. The last time Swiatek failed to reach the third round of a grand slam was way back in 2019 during the US Open, when she lost to Anastasija Sevastova in the second round.

Talking about the Williams sisters, Serena lost in the first round at the Wimbledon Championships in 2021 and 2022. Meanwhile, Venus has lost each of her previous four appearances at Grand Slams in the first round. Even her current competitors, Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff, have lost early at major tournaments this decade. While Gauff lost in the first round of this year’s Wimbledon Championships, Sabalenka bowed out of the 2020 US Open in the second round. Thus, Swiatek’s unique feat was a cut above all and should give her a major boost at the US Open.

However, this isn’t the only record that Swiatek broke recently owing to her amazing form. The Pole went past Monica Seles’ record of 64 consecutive first-round wins. Swiatek now has 65 first-round wins at majors and has achieved a massive feat at Flushing Meadows. Interestingly, Swiatek also has an outside chance to finish the year as the World Number 1, dethroning Sabalenka. For this to happen, the latter would have to drop out early from the US Open while Swiatek continues to aim for the trophy.

Amid her pursuit of the World Number 1 ranking, Swiatek earned comparisons to Rafael Nadal. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova revealed why Swiatek can transform her game like the Spanish legend.

Iga Swiatek can follow the path of Rafael Nadal

Owing to her tremendous run on clay courts, Swiatek has already earned comparisons to Nadal. However, Nadal also thrived on the hard courts, something which Swiatek can learn from him. As a result, Navratilova dubbed Swiatek to follow Nadal’s path to become an all-around player.

She said, “She looks fantastic, right where she left off in Cincinnati and of course Wimbledon, it was crazy how well she played on her least favorite surface [grass]… I think Iga has that possibility if she buys into that, and also when you get older, you want to shorten the points, and overall, you want to shorten the points, so we’ll see if she transfers her game how Rafa did.”

Moreover, Swiatek has also been inspired by Nadal and considers him her idol. Thus, it won’t be a surprise to see Swiatek achieving success on other surfaces as well, apart from clay, as she did during Wimbledon this year.