Iga Swiatek crushed Maria Bouzkova  6-1, 6-1 on Tuesday in an emphatic start at the Wuhan Open a week after an early loss in Beijing

The former No. 1 moved into the third round in China after a bye and a few days off from what she has long complained is an over-long WTA calendar which shows little regard for player rest.

Swiatek notched her 60th win of the season as she hammered her Czech opponent in 79 minutes, handing Bouzkova a seventh loss of 2025 against top 10 opponents.

“There are many tournaments that you win [and] the next week you lose,” Swiatek said. “It’s disappointing, it’s hard to be winning all the time and be consistent.

“It’s not something I would expect, but I just try to focus on developing and just working every day to play as well as possible.

“Every tournament I go to, I want to play my best game. Sometimes I deliver; sometimes not.

“But my expectation is to just do my best. Honestly, I don’t set goals like semi-final or whatever — just really making it step by step.”

British No. 1 Emma Raducanu suffered more disappointment in her mother’s native China, retiring with dizziness to hand  Ann Li a 6-1, 4-1 decision.

A clearly hampered Raducanu called for the doctor late in the second set against American No. 46 Li before finally throwing in the towel.

“I was very stable the whole match, super aggressive. Stuck to my game plan very well,” the winner said.

“You could tell towards the end she was maybe not moving as much. But for me, it was a good match.”

“We had a tough match last time we played so I knew it was going to be tough but hopefully she feels better, but I’m happy with my performance, was able to stay pretty solid the entire match.”

Coco Gauff moved to within two wins of a China Open title double on Thursday as the top seed held off Eva Lys 6-3, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals on Thursday.

The defending champion will play next against US Open runner-up Amanda Anisimova, who defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-7 (4), 6-3, 6-4.

Gauff is aiming to become the first woman to win back-to-back titles at the WTA 1000 in Beijing. She last played Anisimova in 2022, taking a Wimbledon loss

“I’m happy with how I played today. She’s a tough opponent, she hit a couple of great shots on the run,” Gauff said of Germany’s 66th-ranked Lys.

“I need to stay confident in my game and not be too passive when I have the lead. I played one passive point in this match, but otherwise I played well.”

Gauff emerged after five straight breaks of serve to claim the opening set and came through in 88 minutes as she served out the semi-final victory.

The American second seed will be competing in her fourth semi of the season and has already qualified for the year-end championships in Saudi where she is defending that title..

Gauff improved to 14-1 career record in Beijing and is hoping to defend a title for the second time in her career after Auckland 2023-2024).

“I was trying my best to stay aggressive. Just staying confident in my game and not being too passive when I have the lead,” Gauff said in victory.

British outsider Sonay Kartal earned the biggest win of her career on Wednesday with a 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 upset of fourth seed Mirra Andreeva to reach the China Open quarter-finals.

The winner ranked 81st will play a last-eight match for the first time since winning a minor title a year ago.

Kartal is the first Brit to get this far in Beijing since Johanna Konta nine years ago.

“The way I carry myself on the court is one of my biggest assets, I think,” Kartal said. “You can look down the other end of the court and you won’t really know if I’m winning or losing.

“I just tried to put that (losing) second set behind me – she played some great tennis. I just tried to level it out in the third set and keep the scoreboard pressure as far as I could.”

Kartal said that keeping her emotions hidden was the key to the uspet.

“I tried to be super unpredictable. I was aware of what she was going to try and do, how she was going to try and attack my game style.

“I just tried to be super unpredictable and in big moments play brave tennis …I was accepting that this match might not go my way, but at least I’m going to play the way I need to play to get the wins later on.”