Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova impresses in surprise singles comeback against Swiatek

WATCH: Iga Swiatek defeats Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, but was tested by the Russian across two sets at the World Tennis League.

Former world No. 11 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova made a statement in her World Tennis League debut against Iga Swiatek, staying toe-to-toe with the world No. 1 for the better part of an hour on Thursday evening.

The Russian, who replaced Anett Kontaveit at the team exhibition event after she withdrew due to injury, spent most of the 2022 season on the sidelines as she battled a chronic left knee injury. Pavlyuchenkova played just three events—the Australian Open in January and Madrid and Rome in May—before shutting down her season.

“This is the first time I’m coming back from a tough and long-term injury because luckily, I have never been injured in my career,” Pavlyuchenkova said in a pre-season interview. “I had this problem with my [left] knee that was bothering me for years, so I had to stop my season after Rome…

“It took a lot of time and energy but I’m also not the youngest on Tour now, so that’s kind of normal. But I’m looking forward to coming back!”

The first step of her comeback was a surprise appearance in Dubai, with the Russian player teasing her participation in a social media post—interrupting a steady stream of practice court and training posts that had already hinted at her ambitions.

Although Swiatek eventually took the match 6-4, 6-3, Pavlyuchenkova acquitted herself well by breaking the Pole’s serve at least once in each set and keeping the contest close with sharp groundstrokes. But her lack of match fitness also showed too, and Swiatek wrapped up the match winning five games in a row as Pavlyuchenkova’s level dipped in the second set.

Swiatek’s victory sent the Kites to No. 2 in the WTL standings, with Felix Auger-Aliassime claiming a 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) win over Dominic Thiem in the final match to take the lead with 77 points, leading the Hawks (66). Earlier in the day, Alexander Zverev and Elena Rybakina partnered for the Hawk’s lone win of the tie, a 7-5, 3-6 [10-5] win against Sania Mirza and Auger-Aliassime.

Pavlyuchenkova, who also competed in mixed doubles with Thiem in Dubai on Tuesday, says she has no expectations for her first few tournaments of 2023. The Russian had to relearn how to play tennis in order to minimize the impact on her knee while rehabbing the injury.

“I feel like I’m playing good even right now and I can do well,” she said. "But you never know, because I haven’t played for more than half a year, and basically this year I only played three tournaments.

“So who knows, I don’t know what to expect… I just want to enjoy this, really.”

Pavlyuchenkova is set to start the seasons at the Adelaide International 2, using her world No. 21 protected ranking for direct entry into the stacked WTA 500-level event that features Swiatek and Ons Jabeur as the top two seeds.

She is also entered into the 2023 Australian Open main draw in singles and women's doubles, as well as a WTA 250 event in Lyon the following week.