OSTRAVA: No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek became the first player to reach the quarterfinals of the Ostrava Open 2022 on Wednesday, when qualifier Ajla Tomljanovic had to quit because of an injury to his left knee while trailing 7-5, 2-2.
Swiatek's first match after winning her third Grand Slam title at the US Open was against Tomljanovic. It was a close match until the second set, when Tomljanovic started to feel sick. Tomljanovic's knee started hurting in the second game of the second set, and she gave up after holding serve to tie the score at 2-2.
Before that, Tomljanovic was giving the Pole all he could handle. Swiatek got off to a fast start. She was in control of her game and dominated play as she jumped to a 4-1 lead. She won a number of amazing points to get within two points of a 5-1 lead, but once Tomljanovic got out of the hold, the game was back on.
Tomljanovic tied the game at 4-4 and had two chances to break, but she couldn't do either. Instead, it was Swiatek who won the set when Tomljanovic missed a volley on her second set point.
Tomljanovic, who is ranked No. 34, showed her competitive spirit again in the beginning of the second set, when all four games went to deuce. Swiatek's two amazing gets helped her get through a six-deuce situation in the second game and break Tomljanovic back. However, the match was cut short two games later.
"We played in Toronto, and I saw how well Ajla played at the US Open. It seems like she's on a roll, and her game keeps getting better. "It was a great match, and I'm sorry that something bad happened. I hope she gets better soon," Swiatek said.
"I haven't played a match in three weeks, and after such a busy time it seems like a long time. I needed to get back into the groove, but it wasn't easy. I didn't have a match, and Ajla had already played a few.
"So I thought I should catch up. But I'm glad this match was so tough because I had to go to a new level, and I think it will help me in the next matches," she said.
Swiatek is now in her 11th WTA Tour quarterfinal of the year, where she will play either Karolina Muchova, a home wild card, or Caty McNally, a qualifier. Both players, who are known for having a lot of different skills, won their first-round matches with impressive highlight reels. On Tuesday, McNally's touch and a nice shot called a "tweener" helped her beat fellow qualifier Anna Blinkova 6-1, 6-2.
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