Swiatek sweeps ahead in Wuhan

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.”