World No. 1 Iga Swiatek showed no signs of rust in her first match of the 2023 season, defeating Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-3 at the United Cup. The victory gave second seed Poland a 1-0 lead over Kazakhstan in Brisbane. 

Poland’s No. 2 men’s singles player, Daniel Michalski, will look to build on Swiatek’s efforts when he faces Timofey Skatov to close out the day’s play on Pat Rafter Arena.  

With Polish great Agnieszka Radwanska looking on from the captain’s box, Swiatek needed just three games before finding the rhythm and range that made her the runaway 2022 Hologic WTA Tour Player of the Year. Putintseva earned an early break point chance in Swiatek’s first game, but the Pole coolly erased it with pinpoint accuracy. 

“I’m pretty happy with my performance,” Swiatek said. “First matches of the season are always rusty. I was happy that in the important moments I was really composed.” 

Under pressure again while serving at 1-1, 0/30, Swiatek found another gear to reel off 12 consecutive points to build a 4-1 lead. Having made six unforced errors in the first three games, Swiatek would make just one for the rest of the set, pocketing the set after 27 minutes. 

Swiatek underlined her reputation as the tour’s preeminent front-runner in the second set. After keeping Putintseva at bay in the early games, Swiatek broke to 3-2 and held her lead to win after 64 minutes. Swiatek finished the match with 22 groundstroke winners — 17 on the forehand alone — to just five for Putintseva.  

The victory extended Swiatek’s head-to-head record against Putintseva to 2-0. 

The United Cup is a new mixed-teams event featuring 18 countries across Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. Played over two days, ties will be comprised of two ATP and two WTA singles matches and one mixed-doubles match.