Iga Swiatek claimed her first-ever win at the China Open on Monday. The second-highest ranked player in the world got past Sara Sorribes Tormo of Spain, 6-4, 6-3 in an hour and 34 minutes. Swiatek put 32 first-serve points in but won only 17 points of these.
She, however, won 52% points on return on Sorribes Tormo’s first serve. The Pole also won seven of 13 points played on her second serve and won 17 of 23 points played on return on her opponent’s second serve. In the first set both players traded breaks before Swiatek made her way past her rival to go up in the match.
In the second set, all three games Sorribes Tormo won came courtesy of breaks of Swiatek’s serve. But as in the first, Swiatek held her ground and her nerve to close out the match in straight sets. After her win, Swiatek said, “You have to be patient with her because she’s running for every ball.
I kind of wanted to just be solid and be intensive but not make too many mistakes with risking”.
Earlier in the day, Linda Noskova gave a walkover into the third round to Jelena Ostapenko.
The Czech couldn’t play her second-round clash against the 13th seed due to ill-health. There was one other mid-match withdrawal as Lin Zhu was forced to abandon her first-round match against Lesia Tsurenko. The Ukrainian led 6-0, 3-0 in the match, 42 minutes into it, before the home player decided to stop play.
Zhu’s compatriot Xinyu Wang didn’t face any problems in her first-round match against Vera Zvonareva. Wang completed a 6-4, 6-3 win over the wildcard entrant, who made it to the finals here all the way back in 2010.
The local player needed an hour and 32 minutes for the win. Lastly, ninth seed Caroline Garcia and Anhelina Kalinina won their respective matches at the China Open. Garcia won her first-round match against Kateryna Baindl, 6-2, 6-4. Kalinina, meanwhile, moved into the third round with a 6-2, 7-6(5) win over Daria Saville.
