Ostrava Open: Swiatek into last eight as Tomljanovic retires with knee injury
Iga Swiatek benefitted from the abandonment of Ajla Tomljanovic (7-5, 2-2) on Wednesday and will play the winner of the match between American qualifier Catherine McNally and Czech wildcard Karolina Muchova in the next round
Top seed Iga Swiatek moved into the last eight of the Ostrava Open when Australian qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic retired with a knee injury on Wednesday at the Ostravar Aréna.
Swiatek, ranked No 1, led 7-5, 2-2 when Tomljanovic, ranked No 34, pulled out at the Ostravar Aréna on Wednesday afternoon.
The 21-year-old Pole will play the winner of the match between American qualifier Caty McNally and Czech wildcard Karolina Muchova next.
“We played in Toronto and I saw in the US Open how well Ajla played — it seems she’s really on a roll and she’s playing better and better. It was a great match and it’s unfortunate that something happened — I hope she’s going to recover quickly,” Swiatek said, quoted on the WTA Tour website.
“I’ve had a three-week break from playing matches, and after such an intense time it seems like a lot. I felt like I need to get back to the rhythm, and it wasn’t easy. I had a bye, and Ajla already played a few matches. So I felt like I need to catch up. But I’m pretty happy this match was so intense, because I feel like I had to go to another level and it’s going to prepare me for the next matches.”
Swiatek sets another world-leading mark
The win means Swiatek has now won 58 matches in 2022, which puts her top of the list on the WTA Tour in the last five years.
In the previous round of the Ostrava, the Australian defeated Chinese Shuai Zhang (6-3, 6-3).
Ostrava WTA 500, other second-round results (Ostravar Aréna, hard, USD 757.900, most recent results first):
- Alycia Parks vs. Maria Sakkari
- Belinda Bencic vs. Barbora Krejcikova
- Ekaterina Alexandrova vs. Daria Kasatkina
- Anett Kontaveit vs. Tereza Martincova
- Catherine McNally vs. Karolina Muchova
- Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs. Elena Rybakina
- Petra Kvitova vs. Paula Badosa