Iga Swiatek has continued her ruthless type as she progressed with ease to the WTA Dubai Tennis Championships third spherical.
The world No.1 cruised to a 6-1 6-1 overcome 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez on Tuesday, simply three days after successful the Qatar Open in Doha.
That marked Swiatek’s forty first main-draw victory in WTA 1000 occasions in simply her 53rd outing, solely Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova (52 every) have gained greater than 40 such matches in fewer makes an attempt.
The 21-year-old has gained her final 35 hard-court matches in opposition to opponents ranked exterior the world’s prime 30, although Swiatek stated she needed to adapt in opposition to Canada’s Fernandez.
“It wasn’t that easy for sure. It was much tougher than the score said,” Swiatek, who will look to make the fourth spherical for the primary time in Dubai when she faces Liudmila Samsonova, stated.
“In the second set … I needed to go a level up. I didn’t have much time to get used to the conditions, but I’m just happy I could play solid tennis.”
Jessica Pegula, the third favorite on the event, defeated Viktoriya Tomova 6-2 5-7 6-1 to arrange a third-round battle with Ana Bogdan, who overcame Shelby Rogers 7-6 (7-3) 6-3.
Fifth seed Coco Gauff coasted previous Aliaksandra Sasnovich with a 6-0 6-4 victory, teeing up a gathering with Elena Rybakina, who slammed six aces in a 7-5 6-2 defeat of Marie Bouzkova.
World No.2 Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Rybakina at this yr’s Australian Open last, made mild work of fortunate loser Lauren Davis in a straight-sets rout as she claimed her twelfth straight win in 2023.
Dubai’s defending champion Jelena Ostapenko would be the subsequent problem for Sabalenka after defeating 17-year-old Linda Fruhvirtova for her seventh straight win on the occasion.
Barbora Krejcikova saved 4 match factors en path to a 6-4 4-6 7-5 win over seventh seed Daria Kasatkina and can meet Karolina Pliskova subsequent after she downed sixth favorite Maria Sakkari in straight units.
Belinda Bencic and Marta Kostyuk performed out the match of the day as the previous claimed a 6-7 (7-9) 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 triumph, with that conflict taking three hours 27 minutes – the second-longest on the WTA Tour this yr.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
