Iga Swiatek defeated China's Qinwen Zheng in San Diego [VIDEO]

The match was quite long due to the weather. Both players did their best, but Iga proved to be better. Indeed, she lost the second game, but she motivated herself and won the third set. She defeated Qinwen Zheng 6:4, 4:6, 6:1.

Both players started the match quite cautiously. The Chinese player had to defend a breakpoint in the fifth game, and the Pole – in the eighth. It was only at 4:4 that the world number one started to take more risks, which allowed her to break her 28th-ranked opponent and take the next game to win the set.

The second set was much the same – again at 4:4 Świątek started to play more aggressively, but this time her attacks were countered by the Chinese, who defended five break points. Later, the Pole started to make mistakes with her serve – including her first double fault of the match – and she had to acknowledge her rival’s superiority.

In the third set, however, it was the Chinese woman who started to make mistakes more often, which especially affected the result in the fifth game. At 30-30, she “broke” four serves in a row. It was already the second break of the set, as earlier, Swiatek won on her rival’s serve in the third game as well. The Chinese didn’t make up the losses and the Pole won the match.

Thursday’s contest was hampered by the weather. The players waited more than 40 minutes for play to start, and when the conditions improved, they managed to warm up and play for just one point. Then it started to rain again and this time the break lasted about half an hour.

Iga Świątek (Poland, 1) – Qinwen Zheng (China) 6:4, 4:6, 6:1