Iga Swiatek qualified Thursday for the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid by beating Chinese Wang Xinyu, 6-1, 6-4 in 1h16. The world number 1 clearly dominated the first set by taking her opponent’s service three times, the last in the seventh and final game.
But while she was leading 4-1 in the second set and we seemed to be heading towards an easy victory for the Pole, Wang (52nd) managed to get back to 4-4, before giving in 6-4 on a double fault on the first of two match points in favor of the boss of the circuit.
Gauff passes, not Osaka
Coco Gauff also qualified for the third round in Madrid. The American, world number 3, was uncompromising (6-0, 6-0) against the Dutch Arantxa Rus (47th) and will face the Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska (34th) for a place in the round of 16.
Naomi Osaka will not be in the third round. The Japanese was eliminated (6-2, 4-6, 7-5) by the Russian Liudmila Samsonova (17th). The former world number 1 won on Wednesday, against the Belgian Greet Minnen, her first victory on clay in two years.
