Swiatek loses first set then double-breadsticks Zheng in Cincinnati third round

Iga Swiatek arrived a little bit late to her third-round match at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday afternoon, but nonetheless the bakery still opened. Swiatek started slow but then issued a pair of breadsticks in sets two and three to overcome Qinwen Zheng 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.

The world No 1 lost the first three games of the match and never could get back on serve in the first set. Once the second set started, however, it was all Swiatek the rest of the way.

The 22-year-old Pole’s reward is a quarter-final showdown against No 10 seed and Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.

“Obviously I’d love to play two-setters, but for sure today wasn’t easy,” Swiatek explained. “The conditions were tricky with the wind. I didn’t play a lot of matches on that stadium, so I also needed to kind of get used to it visually. But I’m happy that I problem solved. In second set and third I played much better and much more solid game.”

Swiatek previously defeated American wild card Danielle Collins (6-1, 6-0).

In the previous rounds at this tournament, Zheng beat Belarusian qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich (6-1, 6-4) and American wild card Venus Williams (1-6, 6-2, 6-1).

Cincinnati WTA 1000, other third-round results:

• Linda Noskova vs. Coco Gauff
• Daria Kasatkina vs. Aryna Sabalenka
• Ons Jabeur vs. Donna Vekic
• Marie Bouzkova vs. Jessica Pegula
• Jasmine Paolini (Q) beat Elena Rybakina (4): 4-6, 5-2 ret.
• Karolina Muchova beat Maria Sakkari (8): 6-3, 2-6, 6-3
• Marketa Vondrousova beat Sloane Stephens: 7-5, 6-3

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