Iga Swiatek and Donna Vekic had played four previous times, with the Pole winning each encounter and dropping only one set. On Monday, during their third-round contest at the China Open in Beijing, it looked like No. 30 seed Vekic would finally end that streak as the Croatian dominated the first half of the match to lead 6-4, 5-2.

However, Swiatek, a former champion here in 2023, was not about to go down without a fight. She slowly chipped away at Vekic’s lead, breaking twice to level the second set at 5-5. After both players held serve to take the set into a tiebreak, Swiatek dominated, winning it without dropping a point to force a decider.

The players began the third set with a break of serve each, but with the momentum clearly behind her, Swiatek earned another break to go up 3-2 and never looked back, wrapping up the match 4-6, 7-6(0), 6-2 in 2 hours, 40 minutes.

“For sure I was in a bad position score-wise, didn’t really know after the first set what to change to play better,” Swiatek told the media after the win. “Later on in the second set I was playing more brave and more aggressive, changing more down the line. At the end I think it’s what changed the rhythm of the match.”

“I don’t know how many points we both had, but I felt like I’m playing good,” she added. “I felt like we might be even, but maybe she was winning the more important points. I knew I had my opportunities; I should push a little bit more. I just needed to go level up because she played really good, used these chances that I didn’t use in the first set.”

Comeback complete ✅ Iga Swiatek storms back to defeat Vekic in a three-set thriller! #ChinaOpen https://t.co/l7wTbYuaWF

— wta (@WTA) October 5, 2026

For Vekic, the loss marked her third defeat to a top-10 player in 2026, having previously lost to Mirra Andreeva at the Australian Open and Jessica Pegula at Indian Wells.

Swiatek is through to the round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event for the 40th time in her career and will be bidding to win her 13th title at this level.

It was also Swiatek’s 147th win at WTA 1000 events. Only Serena Williams, with 148, and Aryna Sabalenka, with 156, have more.

She moves on to face No. 10 seed Iva Jovic next. The American defeated Kamilla Rakhimova 6-1, 7-5 in another third-round clash on Monday.