Wuhan: The 16th seed Maja Chwalinska registered her biggest career win by ranking as she defeated World No. 11 Iva Jovic in the Wuhan Open round of 16, 6-4, 6-1, to move into the round of 16 here on Thursday.
Chwalinska put up a strong performance against the American to take the game in 1 hour and 49 minutes and set up a quarterfinal meeting with Maria Sakkari. Meanwhile, fifth-seed Elina Svitolina ended the dream run of wild card Guo Hanyu of China with a commanding 6-1, 6-4 win in 1 hour and 30 minutes.
Chwalinska is making her debut in Wuhan, a WTA 1000 tournament. She battled hard in the first set against Jovic but cruised smoothly in the second one.
She broke Jovic five times, including two times in the first set, and lost serve only once. The Pole started the match with a break in the first game of the opening set before losing her serve in the next game. She made a decisive break in the ninth game to go 5-4 up and held her serve to win the opening set 6-4 in 57 minutes.
The Pole was far superior in the second set, as she broke Jovic for a 2-1 lead and then again for a 4-1 advantage and then finally once more to seal the game at 6-1 in a 47-minute second set.
She will now be up against Sakkari in the quarterfinal. Sakkari won her round of 16 clash against Mia Pohankova 6-1, 6-4 in another round of 16 clash.
No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek has made it two out of two in Wuhan this week after overcoming world No. 68 Ashlyn Krueger 6-1 6-4 to book a quarterfinal spot and clinch her 150th WTA 1000 win.
Meanwhile, Svitolina ended a strong run of China’s Guo, who came into the round of 16 after defeating 12th seed Sorana Cirstea in the first round before beating Katie Volynets in the round of 32.
The Ukrainian fifth seed broke the Chinese unseeded Guo seven times in the match and lost her serve thrice too. She started the match with an early break before going for a double break up at 3-0. However, the Chinese pulled one back before losing her serve next with the Ukranian 4-1. Svitolina held her serve and then broke Guo to bag the opening set in just 37 minutes.
The second set was far closer, with Guo earning the first break of the set to lead 3-2. However, she lost in the very next game before the two exchanged breaks to be 4-4. However, Svitolina held her serve in the ninth game and then broke to seal the second set in 46 minutes and register a strong win. She is now in her third quarterfinal in Wuhan, following her 2014 and 2019 runs.
Diana Shnaider booked her place in the quarter-finals, defeating Karolina Muchova 7-5, 6-3 to register her fourth career victory against a top-10 opponent and strengthen her campaign at the WTA 1000 event in China.
Shnaider will face Jelena Ostapenko who beat Leylah Fernandez 6-1 1-6 6-4. Agencies
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