Setting Up Sunday: Taylor Fritz, Iga Swiatek going for home titles in Atlanta, Warsaw

WATCH: Taylor Fritz defeats J.J. Wolf in the 2023 Atlanta semifinal

WTA Warsaw: Hometown hero Swiatek on the brink of reaching local final

Having been the dominant player on the Hologic WTA Tour in 2022, Iga Swiatek has found life at the top more challenging this year. Playing her first tournament after being upset in the quarterfinals of Wimbledon by wild card Elina Svitolina, Swiatek faced another demanding situation Saturday at the BNP Paribas Warsaw Open.

Rain had forced the tournament to hold the quarterfinals and the semifinals on the same day.

Beginning matters with a 6-1, 6-4 win over eighth-seeded Linda Noskova, Swiatek next took on 79th-ranked Yanina Wickmayer. Swiatek started with trademark urgency, taking a 6-1, 5-2 double-break lead. But despite holding three match points, Swiatek was unable to close it out. Wickmayer evened the set at 5-all—at which stage, the match was suspended due to darkness.

They’ll resume Sunday at noon, followed soon enough by the final. Surely, the diligent Swiatek will have a thoughtful discussion with her coach, Tomas Wiktorowski, and psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, on how to recommence as effectively as possible.

Though the 22-year-old Swiatek has won 14 WTA singles tournaments—including four majors—there’s unquestionably something exceptionally meaningful about the opportunity to win a title in the city where she was born (and currently resides in a nearby suburb). A year ago, playing the WTA event in Warsaw for the first time, Swiatek was upset in the quarterfinals by Caroline Garcia.

Should Swiatek beat Wickmayer, her opponent in the finals will be the tactically nimble No. 31, Laura Siegemund. The only prior time these two have played one another came just over two years ago. On clay in Madrid, Swiatek won, 6-3, 6-3.

Should Swiatek lose, there will indeed be further intrigue as she heads to North America and draws closer to defending her US Open title.

ATP Atlanta: Fritz seeks to kick off North American summer with first title since February

At the Atlanta Open, top-ranked American man Taylor Fritz has reached only his second final of 2023. Way back in February, Fritz took the title at Delray Beach. More notably, after cracking the Top 10 in 2022, Fritz this year has won four just matches at the Slams—two at Roland Garros, one apiece at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. The Wimbledon loss was particularly puzzling. A quarterfinalist there twelve months ago, Fritz this year surrendered a two sets to love lead versus 59th-ranked Mikael Ymer.

Seeded first in Atlanta, Fritz has won three matches without dropping a set—the first time he’s won that many at a tournament since April. In Saturday’s semi versus 46th-ranked J.J. Wolf, the 6-3, 7-5 score line belied how dominant Fritz was throughout the match. Fritz served 13 aces, fought off the only two break points he faced, and won 57 percent of his second serve points. Again and again, Fritz’s deep, hard groundstrokes were either untouchable (26 winners) or forceful enough to extract errors.

To earn a sixth ATP singles title (5-5 finals), Fritz will have to get past No. 82 Aleksandar Vukic. The two have never played one another.

Fritz by now has certainly proven himself a first-rate ball-striker and fine competitor with a strong work ethic (he took a major step forward on the movement front a couple of years ago). But following several disappointing efforts at the majors, Fritz’s focus is pointed on making a big splash at the US Open, where last year he lost in the first round to No. 303 Brandon Holt). A win in Atlanta would be a good start.