Iga Swiatek: World No. 1 produces ‘great tennis’ to sweep Marta Kostyuk aside and reach Cincinnati Open quarter-finals

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek marched into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open with little fuss as she dispatched 15th seed Marta Kostyuk 6-2 6-2. The Pole, competing at her first tournament since winning an Olympic bronze medal in Paris, remains on course to win a remarkable fifth WTA 1000 title of the season. She will face Mirra Andreeva next for a place in the last four.

Sabalenka 'working really hard to get back on my top level' ahead of Cincinnati

Video credit: SNTV

Iga Swiatek needed just 70 minutes to blast through a straight-sets win over No. 15 seed Marta Kostyuk and reach the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals.

The world No. 1, competing in her first tournament since winning an Olympic bronze medal for Poland, put on a dominant display to win 6-2 6-2 against the Ukrainian.

Swiatek is the top seed in Ohio as she looks to claim her 11th career WTA 1000 title and her fifth of the 2024 season.

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Next up for the Pole is a last-eight meeting with 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who defeated fifth seed Jasmine Paolini 3-6 6-3 6-2.

Rain throughout the morning prevented Swiatek from getting pre-match practice in, but there were few signs of that taking a toll.

"It was a bit windy and conditions were tough," Swiatek said. "I tried to focus on easy things, like keeping the ball.

Swiatek 'different class' as she bounces back from heartbreak to claim bronze

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"It was not easy to win without a warm-up, but I'm glad I was able to go out and play great tennis anyway."

Swiatek broke Olympic quarter-finalist Kostyuk seven times as she extended her head-to-head record to a perfect 3-0.

The five-time major winner suffered a disappointing early exit at Wimbledon in July, while her semi-final defeat to China’s Qinwen Zheng at Paris 2024 also came as a shock on the Roland-Garros clay where she has won four French Open crowns.

Swiatek said after her second-round win over Varvara Gracheva that she had found in Cincinnati that “the transition is the hardest, from the slowest surface (clay) to the fastest (hard court)."

But her performance against Kostyuk showed few signs of struggle as the 23-year-old made short work of a seeded opponent in a much-improved display.

Third seed Aryna Sabalenka progressed with a 7-5 6-2 win over Elina Svitolina, setting up a quarter-final tie against Liudmila Samsonova.

The Australian Open champion skipped the Olympics to prepare for the hard-court season after missing Wimbledon through injury, but has bounced back with consecutive last-eight runs now after reaching the same stage in Toronto.

Sabalenka closed out the match in 69 minutes and went on a hot streak of winning eight of the last 10 games to finish in style.

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