No. 1 seed Iga Swiatek easily passes first Beijing test

Top-seeded Iga Swiatek made WTA Tour history Saturday with a swift 6-0, 6-3 second-round win over home hopeful Yuan Yue at the China Open in Beijing.

The victory made the World No. 2 from Poland the first player ever to record 25 or more wins at WTA 1000 events for three consecutive seasons.

Coming off her triumph at the Korea Open in Seoul earlier this month, Swiatek converted five of 11 break points and needed just 74 minutes to advance to the third round. Up next is Colombia's Camila Osorio, a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 winner against No. 28 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia.

Swiatek, who only lost nine of the 36 points in a dominant first set, won the title in Beijing in 2023.

"It was a great tournament here two years ago. I have great memories. I was excited to come here," she said. "Every tournament is a different story. You've gotta start from the beginning and grind. It's been already a great couple of weeks in Asia. I'm happy to continue in another city."

No. 4 seed Mirra Andreeva of Russia breezed into the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win against China's Lin Zhu.

No. 5 Jessica Pegula also advanced, steamrolling Australia's Ajla Tomljanovic 6-0, 6-3 in 61 minutes. Pegula will face Britain's Emma Raducanu, the No. 30 seed who saved seven of eight break points in a 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Cristina Bucsa of Spain.

"Cristina was playing amazing ... so I'm very happy to have gotten over it," Raducanu said. "I really want to do well here."

Qinwen Zheng of China, the No. 7 seed, defeated Colombia's Emiliana Arango 6-3, 6-2 in her first win since June. She missed more than two months following elbow surgery.

Other seeded players moving into the third round included No. 16 Emma Navarro, No. 23 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine and No. 26 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic.

Seven other seeds were shown the door. Turkey's Zeynep Sonmez knocked out No. 10 Clara Tauson of Denmark 6-4, 2-6, 6-3; Russia's Aliaksandra Sasnovich rallied past No. 12 Naomi Osaka of Japan 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Britain's Sonay Kartal took down No. 14 Daria Kasatkina of Australia 6-3, 6-0; Australia's Maya Joint defeated No. 17 Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-5, 6-1; France's Lois Boisson beat No. 19 Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-3, 6-4; Russia's Anastasia Potapova ousted No. 21 Victoria Mboko of Canada 7-6 (5), 7-5; and Spain's Jessica Bouzas Maneiro eliminated No. 29 Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine.

--Field Level Media