World No.1 Iga Swiatek eased to a 6-1, 6-1 win over 2021 US Open finalist Leylah Fernandez at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday.
Less than three days after rolling to her second straight title, at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open in Doha, Swiatek sailed to a 72-minute victory to improve to 2-0 against Fernandez.
Here's more from Swiatek's fourth win in four matches in the Middle East swing:
Staying perfect: Swiatek not only stayed unbeaten against Fernandez with the victory, but also against Canadians. She's now 4-0 against players from Canada in her career.
Swiatek's last win against Fernandez, a 6-2, 6-1 triumph in Adelaide last year, also lasted 72 minutes. She won the first four games of Tuesday's encounter and avoided an early pitfall in the second set. Serving at 2-1, and up a break, Swiatek saved two break points in the fourth game that would've seen Fernandez get even in the match for the first time.
A quick turnaround: Not only did Swiatek rise to the occasion against a dangerous foe, she also had to adjust to faster court speeds than the ones she won on last week.
"It wasn't that easy for sure. It was much tougher than the score said," Swiatek said, calling the courts a similar speed to the Australian Open. "In the second set. ... I needed to go a level up. I didn't have much time to get used to the conditions, but I'm just happy I could play solid tennis."
Third time's the charm? Swiatek is through to Round 3 in Dubai for the second time in three career appearances. However, she's never gone further. To do so, she'll have to beat recent Abu Dhabi finalist Liudmila Samsonova, who advanced Tuesday without hitting a ball after Zheng Qinwen withdrew from their Round 2 match with abdominal pain.
Swiatek and Samsonova have played once previously, where Samsonova was the 22nd win in Swiatek's 37-match winning streak a year ago. She came from a set down to beat Samsonova 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, a match that lasted over three hours.
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