Clutch play wins team comps for Jasmine Paolini, Taylor Fritz; Iga Swiatek shines in Seoul

The tours headed east this past week, though some players made it there more quickly than others. Iga Swiatek and the women of Billie Jean King Cup got their year-ending Asian swings underway, while many of the top men touched down in San Francisco for Laver Cup, before making the long jaunt across the Pacific.

Here are three takeaways, as the summer season turns to fall:

“Start to finish I won it, and I earned it”

Taylor Fritz recorded his first win over Carlos Alcaraz, and his first win over a No. 1-ranked player, in a crucial match for Team World on Saturday night at the Laver Cup. Asked how it compared to his victory over Rafael Nadal in the Indian Wells final in 2022, Fritz said this one felt even more satisfying.

“I think I take almost more pride in this one,” the American said after steamrolling Alcaraz 6-3, 6-2. “Because I feel like, start to finish, I won it and I earned it…I went out and I took it.”

Fritz has talked a lot recently about learning to “go out and take” big matches against guys like Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner, and Novak Djokovic. But this was the first time he made it happen against one of them. Just as important, he followed that win with an even more crucial one the next night against Alexander Zverev, which clinched the Cup for Team World.

I think I take almost more pride in this one...Because I feel like, start to finish, I won it and I earned it…I went out and I took it. Taylor Fritz

On both nights, we saw a different Fritz from the one we usually see. He has always been solid under pressure, but not always the guy who puts the match on his racquet and takes the risks needed to win. Against Alcaraz and Zverev, he took those risks, went for the first strike, and—most important—didn’t miss when it mattered.

Beating Alcaraz and winning the Laver Cup for his teammates is not a small thing for Fritz. He has been in similar situations in the late rounds at Grand Slams and mostly come up short. Could this victory give him a bump for the rest of this season, and at the majors in 2026?

Laver Cup has temporarily boosted a couple of players in the recent past. In 2022, Félix Auger Aliassime beat Novak Djokovic at the event, and went on to win three straight indoor titles that fall. In 2023, Frances Tiafoe was the hero for Team World; the next summer, he broke into the Top 10 and nearly made the US Open final.

Fritz’s career has been a long, painstaking, step-by-step climb up the ATP mountain. Winning Laver Cup may have taken him a half-step closer to the top.

“I just tried to stay alive”

That’s what Iga Swiatek told Ekaterina Alexandrova after beating her 1-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 in the Seoul final. It’s the kind of thing that winners say to losers when they’re being polite, but this time it also happened to be true. The Pole was hanging by a thread.

Swiatek won 11 fewer points than Alexandrova, hit seven fewer winners, committed 15 more unforced errors, hit four fewer aces, and made three more double faults. She lost the first set in 30 minutes, and served to stay in the match at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second. In both of those games, Alexandrova came within two points of the title. But it was Swiatek who emerged victorious.

She did it by finding her newest weapon—her serve—exactly when she needed it. Serving at 4-5, 30-30, in the second set, Swiatek won a point with a first serve and a forehand winner. At 5-6, 15-30, she fired a service winner, and closed the game with another serve-forehand combination. In the tiebreaker, she hit a service winner and her first ace of the match. And at 5-5 in the third, again at 30-30, she came up with another big first serve, and ended the point with another forehand winner.

I’m happy that I could win here because of the family history. My dad couldn’t win the Olympics [here], but at least I won this tournament. Iga Swiatek on her Seoul title

The win had a personal aspect for Swiatek, whose father, Tomasz, didn’t secure a medal as a Polish rower at the 1988 Seoul Games.

“I’m happy that I could win here because of the family history,” Swiatek said. “My dad couldn’t win the Olympics [here], but at least I won this tournament.”

Maybe more important at this moment, Swiatek’s win gets her off to a fast start for the Asian swing. Last year she missed it due to a provisional doping suspension, which means this year she has plenty of points to gain in her ongoing race for No. 1 with Aryna Sabalenka.

“So, more dumplings for us”

Can you have a lucky food? Jasmine Paolini said she found one in Shenzhen, China, during Italy’s run to its second straight Billie Jean King Cup.

“Yesterday I think was the first night we ate dumplings,” Paolini said after clinching the Cup with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Jessica Pegula of the U.S. “It worked really well. We played amazing today. So more dumplings for us. I love dumplings, honestly.”

Paolini’s history says it isn’t the food, but the chance to play for her country, that brings out the best in her. She’s 8-1 at the BJK Cup over the last two years, and was 4-0 this past weekend. She also won doubles gold with countrywoman Sara Errani at the 2024 Paris Olympics, and this year her biggest WTA title happened at home in Rome.

Paolini was 0-5 against Pegula coming into Sunday’s final, and she was playing a hard surface better suited to the American. But the Italian was far the better player when she was wearing her country’s colors. She was a whirling, net-rushing dervish, fighting her way into the front court and finishing points with expertly placed volleys. I wouldn’t even say that Pegula played poorly.

“Paolini’s just bringing another level of energy here,” a commentator said as she ran away with the second set.

“I think to play for the national team, it’s something that I was watching, I was dreaming to do,” Paolini said when the weekend was over.