Historic all-Polish clash in Wuhan: Świątek meets former doubles partner Chwalińska
Iga Świątek beats Ann Li 6-4, 6-1 and Maja Chwalińska edges Maria Sakkari 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. It is the first all-Polish WTA semi-final of the Open Era.
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Video: YouTube · WTA · youtube.com
The WTA 1000 event in Wuhan stages a historic semi-final on Saturday. Iga Świątek beat American Ann Li 6-4, 6-1 in the quarter-finals, while her compatriot Maja Chwalińska overcame Greece's Maria Sakkari 6-0, 3-6, 7-5. Chwalińska saved four of the five break points she faced and converted four of her 15 chances. According to the WTA, it is the first all-Polish semi-final on the tour in the Open Era.
The two have known each other since their youth: as juniors they played doubles together and reached the 2017 Australian Open girls' doubles final. Their only singles meeting came at an ITF event in Stockholm in 2016, when both were 15 – Świątek won 6-2, 6-3. "I feel like I know her forever," Chwalińska said, according to the WTA, calling it a great honour to face Świątek. The world No. 22, a French Open finalist this summer, will make her top-20 debut on Monday regardless of the result.
It is Świątek's first semi-final in Wuhan. According to The Tennis Gazette, she has now reached at least the semi-finals at all ten current WTA 1000 tournaments – the fourth player to do so and the only active one. In the other semi-final, Jelena Ostapenko faces Britain's Sonay Kartal.