Cincinnati (USA), Aug 16 (IANS) Women’s No.1 seed Iga Swiatek raced into the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Open here, maintaining her perfect record against Marta Kostyuk on the tour. Swiatek defeated the No.15 seed Kostyuk 6-2, 6-2 in 70 minutes. It was the first full match on Friday after the schedule was disrupted by rain on the previous day.
Among the matches that were postponed on Thursday include those involving Jessica Pegula vs Karolina Muchova in the second round, Zheng Qinwen vs Magdalena Frech, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova against Caroline Wozniacki.
Swiatek had defeated the Ukrainian in straight sets in both of their previous pro meetings, at Roland Garros 2021 and in the Indian Wells semifinals this March — as well as in a junior encounter in 2017.
The Pole advanced to her second Cincinnati quarterfinal, having reached the semifinals last year. It is her ninth quarterfinal of 2024 so far, and her season record now stands at 54-6.
Earlier, Swiatek made a winning return to the hard courts at the Cincinnati Open, defeating Varvara Gracheva 6-0, 6-7(8), 6-2 in her first match after winning the zone medal for Poland in women’s singles tennis at the Paris Olympic Games recently.
Swiatek came into Cincinnati looking to win the 11th WTA 1000 title of her career and fifth WTA 1000 of this season alone. Her 10 WTA 1000 titles are tied for second-most since the tournament’s introduction in 2009, level with Victoria Azarenka and behind only Serena Williams’ 13.
–IANS
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