Swiatek moves into Wuhan semi-finals

WUHAN: Iga Swiatek kept up her bid for a WTA Finals place with a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ann Li on Friday that set up an all-Polish semi-final at the Wuhan Open.

The six-time Grand Slam champion will face Maja Chwalinska for a place in the final.

Swiatek is chasing one of the last two remaining spots in the eight-player line-up at next month's WTA Finals in Indian Wells and took another step forward by reaching the Wuhan semis for the first time in her career.

"For sure it's great that we have two Polish players in the semi-finals," said Swiatek of her upcoming clash with childhood friend Chwalinska.

"I think it means a lot to Polish tennis, so hopefully it's going to be a nice match. I'm really happy for Maja, she for sure improved her game this year."

It had been a banner week for 26-year-old Li, who stunned world number two Aryna Sabalenka in the second round and recorded the 100th tour-level victory of her career in the third round to reach a maiden WTA 1000 quarter-final.

The American world number 31 gave Swiatek a hard time in the opening set. But despite committing 21 unforced errors and facing three break points, Swiatek hung onto the one-break gap she created early on and took a one-set lead in 56 minutes.

Swiatek made a strong start to the second set and never let go, as she moved into her fourth WTA 1000 semi-final of the year.

French Open finalist Chwalinska reached her first WTA 1000 semi-final with a 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 triumph over Greece's Maria Sakkari.

"I think it would be great for us and great for Polish tennis as well," Chwalinska said of her Saturday meeting with Swiatek.

"It would be a great honour for me also because she's such a great champion, she's done almost everything in our sport."

Earlier, Sonay Kartal claimed the second top-10 win of her career and guaranteed herself a return to the top 100 with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over Ukrainian world number six Elina Svitolina.

The first British player to make the semi-finals in Wuhan, Kartal missed six months of action this season with a spinal stress fracture before returning to competition three weeks ago.

Ranked a career-high 44 in the world 15 months ago, Kartal plummeted to 170 in the rankings due to her injury-enforced absence.

The 24-year-old is the lowest-ranked semi-finalist in Wuhan Open history.

Her impressive return to form this week saw her dismiss three consecutive seeds in her last three rounds and she will now face 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko for a place in the final.

Ostapenko advanced to her second Wuhan Open semi-final, and first since 2017, with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-1 performance against 11th-seeded Diana Shnaider. - AFP