Swiatek sets quarter-final against Pegula at US Open

Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, moved into the last eight of the US Open by winning against Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 16 seed, 6-4, 6-1 in New York on Monday night.

The Pole is yet to lose a set at the US Open, and now sets a blockbuster quarter-final against one of the in-form players of the North American hardcourt swing, American Jessica Pegula, the No 6 seed, next.

Swiatek’s victory over Samsonova came off the back of a strong serving performance, on the first serve at least. She won 29 of 33 points when she made her first serve, setting herself up for a series of comfortable holds. Samsonova did not get a look at a single break point across the match.

The Russian did exploit Swiatek’s second serve, winning 11 of 20 points on return. However, her 24 unforced errors meant she struggled to keep pace with Swiatek.

The Pole defeated Russian lucky loser Kamilla Rakhimova (6-4, 7-6 (6)), Japanese qualifier Ena Shibahara (6-0, 6-1) and Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the No 25 seed (6-4, 6-2) earlier in the tournament.

In the previous rounds, Samsonova, ranked No 16, beat Chinese Qiang Wang (6-2, 7-5), Marie Bouzkova (3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3) and American Ashlyn Krueger (6-1, 6-1).

New York (Grand Slam), other last 16 results (USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, hard, USD 75.000.000, most recent results first):

• Beatriz Haddad Maia (22) beat Caroline Wozniacki: 6-2, 3-6, 6-3
• Jessica Pegula beat Diana Shnaider (18): 6-4, 6-2
• Karolina Muchova beat Jasmine Paolini (5): 6-3, 6-3
• Qinwen Zheng (7) beat Donna Vekic (24): 7-6 (2), 4-6, 6-2
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Elise Mertens (33): 6-2, 6-4
• Emma Navarro (13) beat Coco Gauff (3): 6-3, 4-6, 6-3
• Paula Badosa (26) beat Yafan Wang: 6-1, 6-2