Google News China Open: Iga Swiatek settles into her rhythm of easy wins to bag last-eight spot
by ABBEY JOHNSON
Iga Swiatek didn´t spend much time in her third-round clash against Magda Linette at the China Open, on Wednesday. The Polish derby saw the four-time Slam winner notch a 6-1, 6-1 after just six minutes past the hour. Swiatek´s form´s been getting progressively better in Asia since she started in Tokyo, the last week.
Against Linette, Swiatek put in 19 first-serve points and won all but three of these. She also won 12 of 17 second-serve points she put in. Her opponent also put in the same number of second-serve points but conceded 11 of these to Swiatek.
Swiatek created seven break point chances for herself on Linette and converted five of these. Her own serve never came under any pressure, during the match. The second-seeded player in the Chinese WTA 1000 event, Swiatek will now play either Anhelina Kalinina or ninth seed Caroline Garcia.
She leads both in the head-to-head. Against the Ukraine, Swiatek´s got a 1-0 record while against the French player, she´s got a 2-1 edge. But this would be the first time in 2023 Swiatek would be playing either of them.
China Open: Elena Rybakina bests Mirra Andreeva in a roller-coaster ride
In the last match of the day, fifth seed Elena Rybakina came up with a sumptuous fightback against Mirra Andreeva to take her place in the quarters.
The teenaged qualifier seemed to have left the Kazakh way behind as she took charge in the match, gaining a 6-2, 4-2 lead in the clash. However, from that game onwards, Andreeva could win only game for the rest of the match.
Rybakina finished the match 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 in her favour, 11 minutes shy of two hours. In the deciding set, Rybakina upped the ante over Andreeva, gaining a two-break lead for 4-0. Andreeva, whose game struggled after she yielded domination in the match, recovered long enough to win a token game in the set but Rybakina ended the match not too long afterwards, on her serve.
Another match that went the distance was the encounter between Liudmila Samsonova and Marta Kostyuk. Samsonova ended up winning it 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-5 just five minutes before the clock struck three hours. Lastly, Jelena Ostapenko upended Jessica Pegula´s China Open hopes in their third-round match.
The Latvian, brushed aside any superstitiousness associated with the no. 13 and as the 13th seed, toppled the fourth seed, 6-4, 6-2 after an hour and 18 minutes.