Iga Świątek cruises past Xinyu Gao into third round in Beijing
World No. 8 Iga Świątek defeated Chinese wildcard Xinyu Gao 6:2, 6:3 to reach the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing.
Polish tennis player Iga Świątek returned to action on Saturday, October 3, after a break following her unexpected fourth-round loss to Qinwen Zheng at the US Open, which ended her Grand Slam campaign for the season. Her comeback match came at the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing, where she had received a bye in the first round.
How the match unfolded
In the second round, Świątek faced local wildcard entrant Xinyu Gao, currently ranked 244th in the world. Gao had reached this stage by upsetting higher-ranked Hungarian Panna Udvardy 6:2, 6:3 in the opening round.
The match began with an unexpected twist: according to Interia Sport and Sport.pl, Świątek led 40:0 on her first service game but then lost it after a string of unforced errors, including a double fault, letting Gao level the match at 1:1. The Pole quickly regained the break, however, capitalizing on Gao's service errors, and closed out the first set 6:2.
Gao held serve at the start of the second set, but Świątek then took control, breaking to go up 1:1 before eventually winning 6:3. Sources report the match lasted between 87 and 88 minutes (reports vary slightly on the exact duration).
Context and what's next
As Sport.pl notes, Świątek previously won the Beijing title in 2023 but was eliminated in the fourth round last year. This season has been challenging for her overall — she currently sits 10th in the WTA Race rankings and needs a strong finish to qualify for the season-ending WTA Finals. She trails eighth-placed Linda Nosková by more than 700 points and Karolína Muchová by nearly 900.
A commentator for Sportowe Fakty highlighted the effectiveness of Świątek's first serve as a positive takeaway from the match — she served flatter and with higher speed than in recent weeks, a sign of continued work with coach Francisco Roig on that part of her game.
Świątek will next face Croatian Donna Vekić, the Olympic silver medalist, in the third round. That match is scheduled for Monday, October 5.
