The top-seeded Iga Swiatek (Poland) qualified for the third round of the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open tennis tournament after defeating Varvara Gracheva (France) by 2-1 (6:0, 6:7, 6:2).
The Polish tennis player success did not come easily despite a clear win in the first set. In the second set, a tiebreak was reached, in which the naturalized Russian prevailed after a fierce struggle with 10-8. In the third set, the bronze medalist from the Olympic Games in Paris picked up the pace and prevailed 6:3, with the match lasting 2:15 hours.
“For sure, the transition from the slowest surface (for example, the Olympic tennis tournament was held on the courts of Roland Garros) to the fastest is difficult, so I am happy with my performance and I am looking forward to the next match to continue to train and apply what I’m working on, but not focus on the results”, said Iga Swiatek after the victory.
In the Round of 16 of the tournament, Iga Swiatek will face Marta Kostyuk (Ukraine), who defeated Lulu Sun (New Zealand) by 2-0 (6:3, 7:5).
In other match of the first round, Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) knocked out Anhelina Kalinina (Ukraine) after 2-0 (6:2, 6:4).
Marie Bouzkova (Czech Republic) defeated Magdalena Frech (Poland) by 2-1 (3:6, 6:4, 6:3), while Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) eliminated 17th-seeded Beatriz Haddad Maia (Brazil) after 2-1 (4:6, 7:6, 6:3).
Paula Badosa (Spain) also qualified for the second round, defeating Peyton Stearns (USA) by 2-0 (6:2, 7:5), while the Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva eliminated the 11th-seeded Emma Navarro (USA) after 2-0 (6:2, 6:2) and Liudmila Samsonova (Russia) won her match versus Wang Xinyu (China) by 2-0 (6:4, 6:4).
