Swiatek eases past Zheng, United, Spurs make Europe progress, Dettori bankruptcy move
Iga Swiatek in cruise control against China’s Zheng Qinwen at Indian Wells, while the quarter-finals of the Europa League are set
Two-time Indian Wells champion Iga Swiatek avenged her shock Paris Olympics loss to Zheng Qinwen with a 6-3, 6-3, victory over the Chinese eighth seed on Thursday to reach the semi-finals in the California desert.
Zheng beat Swiatek on the way to winning gold at last year’s Paris Olympics – but was no match for the Pole in their first meeting since.
The world No 2 claimed the first set 6-3 and eased into a 5-1 lead in the second before bad weather led to play being suspended. Zheng, 22, improved after the delay and won two straight games before Swiatek closed out the match.
“At the end it got really windy which made it super tricky especially when the conditions change during the match you need to adjust quickly and it’s not that easy,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview.
“I am happy that I was pushing until the end. It was a weird match with all the breaks and everything but I wanted to be composed and really focused and I’m glad that I did that.”
Swiatek improved her head-to-head record against Zheng to 7-1, and up next for the reigning BNP Paribas Open champion Swiatek, who has dropped just 12 games across her four matches, is ninth seed Mirra Andreeva, who beat Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 7-5, 6-3.