Iga Swiatek put on yet another dominant display in the third round of the WTA
China Open, defeating her compatriot
Magda Linette in straight sets, 6-1, 6-1.
The second seed looks very much on form at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing. Prior to this match, she defeated Sara Sorribes Tomo 6-4, 6-3, before ousting Varvara Gracheva 6-4, 6-1. Meanwhile, Linette achieved the impressive feat of defeating fourteenth seed Victoria Azarenka 5-7, 6-1, 6-2, before Jennifer Brady retired from their second-round clash.
The two players are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in Poland and are both inside the Top 25 in the WTA Ranking, with Swiatek ranked World No. 2 and Linette No. 25.
Swiatek dominant from start to finish
It was always going to be a challenge for Linette to defeat the four-time Grand Slam champion and Swiatek made sure to give the 31-year-old no room to do so.
Swiatek served first in the opening set and held 40-0 before getting a break point in Linette's first service game. Her opponent fought back to take it to a deuce but Swiatek obtained the advantage. Despite initially losing this due to an unforced error, two subsequent unforced errors from Linette gave Swiatek an early break.
The 22-year-old continued to control the movement on court as she proceeded to go up a double break and held serve to lead 5-0. Linette managed to avoid a bagel as she held her serve for the first time in the match to make it 5-1. This meant that Swiatek had to serve for the set, which she did very efficiently, building up two break points and successfully converting the second.
Swiatek's dominance continued in the second set as she broke Linette immediately. She then went up a double break again but her compatriot also made sure to once more avoid a bagel as the match slipped away from her at 1-4.
Swiatek then converted set point in Linette's next service game after a clinical display of power and control from the World No. 2. This marked her 60th match win this season as she booked her place in her 14th quarter-final of the year, 7 of which have been at WTA 1000 events.
She will face the winner of the match between Caroline Garcia and Anhelina Kalinina in the quarter-final of the WTA China Open.