Swiatek enters Poland Open quarters; Sinner sails in Croatia

WARSAW: Top seed Iga Swiatek’s victorious homecoming continued with a 6-3, 6-2 defeat of lucky loser Gabriela Lee to reach the Poland Open quarter-finals on Thursday.

The result extended Swiatek’s clay-court winning streak to 18, and her overall 2022 record to 48-4. The World No.1 has not lost a match on clay since the 2021 Roland Garros quarter-finals, where she fell to Maria Sakkari, according to WTA.

Against No.146-ranked Lee, Swiatek delivered an efficient and aggressive performance, firing 25 winners to the Romanian’s three. Despite the rankings gulf, though, Texas Tech alumna Lee held her own for significant portions of the match.

Swiatek had been near-flawless on serve in the first set, conceding only one point behind her delivery. Lee found her range on return slightly more in the second set, and even held break-back point trailing 4-1 following an exquisite dropshot. But Lee squandered her sole chance with a forehand error, and Swiatek motored to the finishing line.

Swiatek will next face No.5 seed Caroline Garcia in the quarter-finals. The Frenchwoman defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto for the second time in as many weeks, backing up her 0-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in Palermo with a 6-3, 7-5 scoreline, reported WTA.

SINNER DOWNS MUNAR: Second-seeded Jannik Sinner advanced to the quarter-finals at the clay-court Croatia Open by defeating Jaume Munar 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday.

The 20-year-old Italian, in his first match since losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals to eventual champion Novak Djokovic, broke his Spanish opponent four times and saved two break points before converting his sixth match point.

Sinner will meet another Spaniard, Roberto Carballes Baena, who came back from a set down to upset fifth-seeded Alex Molcan 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Third-seeded Holger Rune extended his losing streak to seven matches after he was beaten by Bernabe Zapata Miralles of Spain 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. The 19-year-old Dane has failed to win a match since reaching the quarterfinals of the French Open.

Miralles will next play Italian qualifier Giulio Zeppieri, who beat Daniel Elahi Galan of Colombia 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

DOMINIC ADVANCES: Dominic Thiem outlasted qualifier Sebastian Ofner 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to advance to the quarter-finals of the Generali Open on Wednesday.

The 2020 U.S. Open champion was a break down twice in the deciding set and saved two break points when he was serving for the match before prevailing over his fellow Austrian.

The 28-year-old Thiem, who came back in March from a long-term wrist injury, has now reached at least the quarterfinals in the last three tournaments he played, including Bastad and Gstaad.

The former world No. 3, who won the claycourt tournament in 2019, will face next Yannick Hanfmann after the German beat Ivan Gakhov 6-3, 6-7 (5), 6-4.

Three seeded Spanish players made the last eight after winning their second-round matches in straight sets.

Third-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut eliminated Austrian wild-card entry Jurij Rodionov 6-1, 6-4, fifth-seeded Albert Ramos-vinolas defeated Juan Pablo Varillas of Peru 6-3, 6-4 and seventhseeded Pedro Martinez beat Federico Coria of Argentina 6-4, 6-3.