Cincinnati: The world number one tennis star Iga Swiatek cruised to her first-ever Cincinnati Masters quarterfinal after clinching a win over world number 24 Zheng Qinwen in her round of 16 match on Thursday.
Swiatek beat Zheng by 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, making a remarkable comeback after being one set down.
With this victory, Swiatek's WTA 1000 tournament record has improved to 60-17, with a win percentage of 77.9, only bettered by legendary Serena Williams, who has a victory percentage of 84.1.
"I always feel like I just need to focus on myself and what I want to do on court. The tactics obviously are important, but it is the second most important thing because the best thing I can do is just kind of play my game and focus on adjusting my game so I can play the best in these conditions. That is what I am gonna do," said Swiatek after the match.
Also, Marketa Vondrousova secured her first-ever Cincinnati QF spot after winning by 7-5, 6-3 against Sloane Stephens. The Wimbledon champion of 2023 is showing some fine form this year, earning her fifth QF spot this season.
Throughout their match, Vondrousova and Stephens had to battle the wind, but it was Vondrousova who was able to play a cleaner match to win. Stephens had 33 unforced errors to the Czech's 11.
"When we were warming up it was not that windy, but when we came on the court I as like, 'Oh my god, what is happening?'" Vondrousova said.
"You did not know what was going to happen. I thought we were serving good in the wind, but it was very tough to play some rallies," she added.
The world number seven Coco Gauff also advanced to her first-ever quarterfinal at Cincinnati, beating 18-year-old Linda Noskova 6-4, 6-0 in the Round of 16.
Her next opponent for the semifinal spot will be Italy's Jasmine Paolini.
Gauff and Noskova combined for nine serve breaks in the first set before Gauff settled in the second set to win in 62 minutes.
"We were breaking each other a lot in the first set and I just told myself to hit the serve as hard as you can in the second set," Gauff said. "It worked out," she added.
On the other hand, Italian Paolini secured the first-ever WTA 1000 QF spot of her career after number four seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan retired from the match in the second set due to injuries. The final score was 4-6, 5-2, ret.
This is Paolini's second top-10 win after previously winning against Aryna Sabalenka at Indian Wells last year and she was 0-5 against top 10 this year before this match.
"It’s kind of strange to be here because the first round [of qualifying], I was down and playing very bad," Paolini said. "I managed to win the first round of qualifiers, and it’s getting better and better match by match. I am really happy to be here, I love to play here in Cincinnati," she added.
A big quarterfinal clash was set with number three seed Aryna Sabalenka and number five seed Ons Jabeur both advancing into the last eight.
Jabeur made it to the QFs first, getting her first hard-court quarterfinal since January after Donna Vekic was forced to retire during the match due to viral illness, with the final score at 5-2, ret.
On the other hand, Sabalenka beat Daria Kasatkina, the number 14 seed by 6-3, 6-3 in a rain-affected match to make it to the final eight. (ANI)
