NEW DELHI: World number one Iga Swiatek defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, ranked 27th, 6-4, 6-2, on Saturday to advance to the US Open fourth round.
In the potentially challenging matchup against the former French Open runner-up, who has seven other Grand Slam quarterfinal appearances on her record, Swiatek, the 2022 US Open champion whose five titles this year include a fourth French Open championship, was mostly untroubled.
Feeling the sting of losing to Swiatek 6-0, 6-0 in their lone previous match on the Rome clay earlier in the year, Pavlyuchenkova raised her game, as per AFP.
Swiatek broke early in the first game to take a 3-1 lead, but Pavlyuchenkova stayed close, holding service in a four-deuce game to close the gap to 4-3.
However, Swiatek's advantage held true, and she used a love game to finish the set without encountering a break point.
Perhaps displeased with Pavlyuchenkova's ball that found its way into her body on the first point of the set, Swiatek was even more dominant in the second set.
For a 2-1 lead, Swiatek broke Pavlyuchenkova at love, supported it with a self-assured hold, then broke once more as she cruised to the finish.
Swiatek will play Russian Liudmila Samsonova, ranked sixteenth, in the quarterfinals.
