(Rome) Fast in her first two rounds, world No.1 Iga Swiatek was much more laborious on Tuesday to beat Croatian Dona Vekic (24e) 6-3, 6-4, and thus qualify for the quarter-finals of the WTA 1000 in Rome.
“I’m happy to be out of it,” admitted the Pole. She will face the Kazakh Elena Rybakina (6e), to whom she lost in their two confrontations this year, in 1/8are finals at the Australian Open then in the semis at Indian Wells, to try to climb into the last four of the Roman tournament of which she is double defending champion.
Swiatek had been imperial in her first two games against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6-0, 6-0) then Lesia Tsurenko (6-2, 6-0). She was less brilliant against Vekic, committing 23 unforced errors (against 26 for the Croatian) for 19 winning shots (against 14), but strong enough to win.
