DUBAI — World No.1 Iga Swiatek breezed to a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 6 Qinwen Zheng to reach the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
Qualifier Anna Kalinskaya scored her second Top 10 win of the week to advance to the semi-finals, defeating World No.3 Coco Gauff 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the.
No.40 Kalinskaya will face World No.1 Swiatek for a spot in the final. The winner will face either No.22 Sorana Cirstea or No.26 Jasmine Paolini in final.
Swiatek saved all three break points she faced and broke Zheng three times to dispatch the Australian Open finallist in 86 minutes. The Poland native has won all six of her head-to-head encounters versus the native of China.
“She has great power, great topspin. You have to be ready for that,” Swiatek said of Zheng.
“She wants to really be proactive, so you have to keep up with the intensity. I’ve been doing that during our matches,” she added according to Reuters.
The top seed and Doha champion needed 86 minutes to beat Zheng for a sixth straight time in their all-time head-to-head, and second time this year, to move into the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 event, and extend her winning streak in the Gulf region this year to seven matches.
Four of Swiatek’s wins against Zheng have come on hard courts, and she also dropped five games against the 2023 WTA Most Improved Player of the Year when they met at the United Cup last month.
Swiatek recorded 17 winners to 10 unforced errors. Zheng had 19 and 18, respectively; however she landed just 48 percent of her first serves.
Swiatek will face Russian qualifier Anna Kalinskaya, who overcame a rough first set to notch a 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 win versus third-seeded Coco Gauff.
Six wins against Zheng in less than two full calendar years has done little to dampen Swiatek’s appreciation for the 21-year-old’s talent.
The Pole posted a stat line of 17 winners to just 10 unforced errors in 17 games, more than enough to grab a fourth hard-court win in her collection of all-time wins against Zheng.
“She has great power, great topspin. You have to be ready for that,” the World No.1 told reporters in her post-match press conference.
“She wants to really be proactive, so you have to keep up with the intensity. I’ve been doing that during our matches.”
Swiatek won the first three games of the match — saving a break point at 2-0 — in what was a comprehensive set for the top seed.
She denied Zheng the opportunity to get out in front early in set two by saving another break point in the third game (if converted, Zheng would’ve had a 3-1 lead), and sprinted to the finish line from there by winning the last four games.
Kalinskaya benefited from eight double faults by Gauff to win her match in 2 hours, 17 minutes.
After the match, Kalinskaya quickly turned her attention to Swiatek.
“I played doubles against (Swiatek) a long time ago,” Kalinskaya said. “I’m super excited. I’ll try to recover. I’ve never played against her in singles.”
“I think it was more than five years ago on clay,” Kalinskaya said. “When I saw her, playing against her, I was like, She’s really good. She was making really great decisions in the doubles match. I’m not surprised she’s No.1 because I can see already mentally she’s super strong and physically she’s super fit.
“I need to be ready for tomorrow and see what I can do. But definitely excited to play against her in singles.”
Kalinskaya came into her first meeting against Gauff off the heels of a straight-set victory over one of the hottest players on tour in No.9 Jelena Ostapenko.
Buoyed by the confidence earned from her outstanding start to the season, she patiently reeled in Gauff to notch her 14th win of the season (including qualifying).
Gauff broke Kalinskaya three times in the 46-minute opening set and looked well in control of the match.
Playing in her sixth match in her sixth match in seven days, Kalinskaya took a medical timeout at 5-2 to get treatment for her upper back and received additional treatment during the set break.
Also, Sorana Cirstea of Romania dropped the first set and trailed 5-1 in the second before rallying for a 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2 win over Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic.
“This has to be the biggest comeback of my career,” Cirstea said after winning the match in 2 hours, 41 minutes.
“To be honest, at a set and 5-1 (down), I wasn’t really thinking about winning anymore. I was like, make it nicer for the public, try to make it a little bit longer, try to give them a little bit of nicer tennis. I still don’t know how I managed it.”
Cirstea fired aces to save two match points at 5-1 down in the second set. She saved another with a volley at 5-2.
The seventh-seeded Vondrousova squandered six match points en route to losing the match.
Defending champion Cameron Norrie beat Tomás Barrios Vera of Chile 6-1, 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Rio Open.
The second-seeded Norrie needed just 26 minutes to take the first set of a match originally scheduled for a day earlier but postponed because of rain.
