Iga Swiatek makes winning return, beating Zheng Qinwen in Stuttgart

STUTTGART – World No. 1 Iga Swiatek is glad she is “not rusty” on her return from injury as she reached the quarter-finals of the WTA Stuttgart event on Thursday with a straight-sets win over China’s Zheng Qinwen.

The Pole won 6-1, 6-4 as a dominant first set put her on course for victory in just under 90 minutes at the WTA 500 clay-court tournament.

“I felt like I needed to be 100 per cent focused from the beginning to the end, to think about technique and tactics,” Swiatek said.

“I’m pretty happy that I’m not rusty and I could perform good tennis, even though I had a break.”

After Zheng broke to lock the second set at 4-4, two-time French Open winner Swiatek broke back immediately and then served out the match.

The 21-year-old, who is also the reigning US Open champion, withdrew from the Miami Open and Billie Jean King Cup qualifiers with a rib injury, but said on Wednesday: “I’m not injured any more.”

Three-time Grand Slam champion Swiatek was in last-eight action on Friday against Czech former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, who fought past Croatia’s Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-5).

The result of their match was not available at press time.

Earlier on Thursday, Coco Gauff’s French Open warm-up stalled as the 2022 Roland Garros runner-up to Swiatek fell in the last 16 to Anastasia Potapova.

The Russian impressed with her returning game to dominate the American, winning 6-2, 6-3. World No. 6 Gauff converted none of her six break points against her opponent. Potapova continued her good form on Friday, upsetting French fourth seed Caroline Garcia 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina also suffered a setback ahead of the French Open in May after she retired with a lower back issue in her match against Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia.

The Kazakh player won only one game in the opening set and called for a medical timeout in the second when she was 2-1 down. After play resumed, Haddad Maia won another game before Rybakina decided to retire trailing 6-1, 3-1.

Second seed Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus reached the semi-finals, overcoming Spain’s Paula Badosa 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

In the men’s tournaments, defending champion Holger Rune coasted into the semi-finals in Munich on Friday with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Chile’s Cristian Garin.

Andrey Rublev secured his place in the Banja Luka semi-finals after recovering from a poor start to beat Bosnian wild card Damir Dzumhur 7-5, 6-3, while Stefanos Tsitsipas eased into the Barcelona semi-finals, beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 6-2 to stay on a collision course with defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. AFP, REUTERS