Iga Swiatek took care of business on her Wuhan debut, breezing past Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-1 in 79 minutes to book her spot in the third round.
The six-time major champion improves to 60-14 on the season and becomes the first player to win 60 or more WTA Tour-level matches for four consecutive seasons since Martina Hingis (1997-2001) and Lindsay Davenport (1998-2001).
Second-seeded Swiatek, who shook off a disappointing round of 16 loss to Emma Navarro in Beijing, will face either 13th-seeded Belinda Bencic or Elise Mertens in the third round.
“For sure it’s nice to play in a city that I’ve never been to, it’s something new and I really appreciate that,” Swiatek said. “I’m really happy to be here in Wuhan and to get to know the city – I’m happy with the performance as well.”
Playing the evening session made things a bit easier for Swiatek. Earlier in the day there were multiple retirements in the hot, muggy Wuhan conditions.
“For sure it’s a challenge,” the 24-year-old said of the Chinese heat. “I’m happy I didn’t play yesterday because I think it was too much for a lot of players.”
Swiatek cracked 35 winners to just three for Bouzkova, and she won 60 of 97 points in the match. She converted six of her ten break points and was broken once.
