It’s customary for players to thank fans at the championship trophy ceremony, but after her opening win at the Dongfeng Voyah · Wuhan Open, Iga Swiatek felt compelled to express her appreciation to the crowd.
“I think it’s always nice to get support during the match,” Swiatek explained. “And in China, I feel it more than in other countries. So yeah, just happy to be here, and hopefully I’m going to be able to experience that as much as possible.”
Playing in Wuhan for the first time, the No. 2-seeded Swiatek will live that experience for another day after defeating No. 13 Belinda Bencic 7-6 (2), 6-4. She’ll meet No. 7 Jasmine Paolini in a supercharged quarterfinal on Friday.
Paolini came back to defeat No. 10 Clara Tauson 3-6, 6-1, 3-1 via retirement. Swiatek and Paolini are among five quarterfinalists who have won WTA 1000 tournaments.
No. 3 Coco Gauff, who is scheduled to play wild card Zhang Shuai in Thursday’s late match, would be the sixth.
For Swiatek, it was the 125th WTA 1000 victory of her career, and Friday will be the 25th WTA 1000 quarterfinal of her young career.
The six-time Grand Slam champion finished with eight aces and converted four of six break point opportunities in a match that clocked in at 2 hours and 8 minutes.
“For sure I wanted to play with confidence and make great decisions and not let her dictate,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview after the win. “It was super hard and every game was tough. That’s why it was two sets in over two hours. I’m happy that I was there in the deciding moments to be solid and play one more shot.”
This was Swiatek’s fifth win in six matches against Bencic, but it did not come easily. Since giving birth to daughter Bella in the spring of 2024, the Swiss player has steadily returned to her championship form. She was the winner in Abu Dhabi back in February and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, losing to eventual champion Swiatek.
After dropping the first three games to Swiatek, Bencic came back to win five of six games and found herself serving for the first set at 5-4. Two loose forehands, however, gave Swiatek the equalizing break.
The tiebreak wasn’t competitive. Bencic has made a career of taking the ball early, playing fast and aggressively. But in this instance, Swiatek was sharper. With Bencic serving at 2-4, Swiatek was standing inside the baseline when she sent a first serve back with an eye-opening forehand winner. Winning her third straight point, Swiatek converted her first set point.
In the second set, the two were even at 3-all when Swiatek made her move. A snappy forehand winner, followed by another faulty forehand from Bencic, gave her the decisive break.
Swiatek, 24, is looking for her 12th career WTA 1000 title. The 11th came this summer in Cincinnati, where she defeated Paolini in the final. Swiatek has won all six previous matches against Paolini, five of them in straight sets.
“She’s a really tough opponent — we already played a final this year,” Swiatek said. “I know she can play amazing tennis and she’s a fighter, she never gives up. I’ll be ready.”