Iga Swiatek barely worked up a sweat on Wednesday in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, yet she still registered two wins at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The top-seeded Polish player crushed 14th-seeded Liudmila Samsonova of Russia in 76 minutes in third-round action. Later, Swiatek, the reigning French Open champion, received a walkover into the semifinals when the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova was forced to withdraw from the tournament due to a viral illness.
Pliskova completed a 7-5, 6-7 (6), 6-2 win over Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina in the third round before exiting the event.
Fifth-seeded Coco Gauff of the United States didn’t have to take the court to reach the quarterfinals, as ninth-seeded Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan withdrew because of a lower back ailment. Rybakina is the reigning Wimbledon champion.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who won the Australian Open in January, rallied past 13th-seeded Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia 2-6, 6-1, 6-1. Third-seeded Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys of the United States as well as the Czech pair of Karolina Muchova and Barbora Krejcikova also moved into the quarterfinals.
Merida Open Akron
Caty McNally cruised past Katie Volynets 6-3, 6-0 in an all-U.S. second-round matchup in Merida, Mexico.
In the 88-minute match, McNally converted seven of her 13 break points while Volynets cashed in on just two of her seven break opportunities.
McNally’s quarterfinal foe will be Australian qualifier Kimberly Birrell of, who beat China’s Xiyu Wang 6-3, 6-2.
Two Italians also moved on to the quarterfinals. Seventh-seeded Elisabetta Cocciaretto topped China’s Xinyu Wang 6-4, 6-2, and Camila Giorgi ousted Spain’s Nuria Parrizas-Diaz 7-6 (5), 6-2.
–Field Level Media
