Tennis: Swiatek impresses and advances to the quarterfinals in Dubai

Powerful, aggressive, precise: the Polish Iga Swiatek showed the full extent of her talent against the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, whom she beat on Wednesday 6-1, 6-4 in 1 hour 26 minutes to qualify in quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 in Dubai.

Swiatek, who won last Sunday in Doha, scored her seventh victory in a row against the 20th player in the world, without losing a single set. The Pole has won four of the last five tournaments she has played, and has lost only one of her last 26 matches, in three sets in the round of 16 of the Australian Open.

It is therefore difficult to imagine that the Chinese Zheng Qinwen (7th in the world) or Anastasia Potapova (35th), opposed in the last round of 16 on Wednesday, could be capable of stopping the Swiatek machine.

After having completed the first set in 28 minutes, the world No.1 had to give in a little more in the second, twice as long, but without ever feeling threatened and committing a minimum of unforced errors.

The American Coco Gauff, world No.3, had to grit her teeth a little more than Swiatek to overcome the Czech Karolina Pliskova (36th), 2-6, 6-4, 6-3.

In the quarter-finals, the winner of the last US Open will face the Russian Anna Kalinskaya (40th), who surprised the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (9th) in two sets, 6-4, 7-5.

A week after her surprise elimination upon entering Doha, Gauff thought she was heading towards a new disillusionment: she completely missed the first set, during which she accumulated eight double faults and won only 21% of her seconds. balls, giving up his serve three times.

However, she managed to pull herself together in the second set, taking her opponent's serve three times. If the young American (19 years old) was broken twice, she, in a striking contrast, did not commit a double fault, winning 6-4.

The decisive set remained undecided for a long time, but the semi-finalist of the Australian Open in January made the difference by taking Pliskova's serve again just before managing to conclude on her put in, in a little less two hours.

Besides Kalinskaya, another player managed to eliminate a seeded player in these eighths: the Italian Jasmine Paolini (26th), who largely beat the Greek Maria Sakkari (N.8) 6-4, 6-2.

In the quarter, the 28-year-old Italian will challenge the No.4 seed, the Kazakh Elena Rybakina, who experienced enormous difficulties against the Polish Magdalena Frech, whom she only beat after three close rounds 7 -6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-4.