Swiatek reaches Wuhan quarter-finals with 150th WTA 1000 win as Kartal routs Paolini

Iga Swiatek reached the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open on Thursday with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Ashlyn Krueger, the 150th match win of her career at WTA 1000 level.

The Pole, seeded seventh, raced through the first set and was made to work harder in the second, but has still not dropped a set this week. According to the statistics service OptaAce, only seven players have reached 150 WTA 1000 wins since 2009, and Swiatek got there in the fewest matches, 187.

She is one of the few big names left in a draw that has lost Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula and Karolina Muchova. Her next opponent is Ann Li, who beat Sabalenka 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) after saving 10 match points, and then beat Janice Tjen in straight sets.

“I think on some of those match points I was about to lose my mind.”

Li leads their head-to-head 1-0, from a Madrid meeting in which Swiatek retired with a stomach illness.

Kartal’s charge

The most startling result came from Sonay Kartal, ranked 170th after months away from the tour, who beat 15th seed Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-0 in just over an hour. She had already beaten ninth seed Belinda Bencic 6-0, 7-5 and has not dropped a set in three matches. She meets fifth seed Elina Svitolina, who beat China’s Guo Hanyu 6-1, 6-4.

The other quarter-finals pit 16th seed Maja Chwalinska, a 6-4, 6-1 winner over Iva Jovic, against Maria Sakkari on Friday, and 11th seed Diana Shnaider against Jelena Ostapenko, who beat Leylah Fernandez 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. Shnaider, who knocked out Muchova, has won every match in straight sets.

“When I came here, I was dead mentally, and definitely wasn’t expecting to do great.”