Iga Swiatek through to 2023 Stuttgart Open quarter-finals after win over Qinwen Zheng

Iga Swiatek held off a spirited challenge from Qinwen Zheng in the second round of the Stuttgart Open in Germany on Thursday afternoon. The 21-year-old, ranked No.

1 in the world after landing the French Open and US Open last year, is just a year older than Zheng but demonstrated her superior experience. Ad In February, Swiatek successfully defended her Qatar Open title, but missed the chance to retain her Miami Open trophy through injury ahead of her appearance in Stuttgart.

WTA Stuttgart'The only one I haven't beaten' — Gauff says Swiatek is toughest player on tour9 HOURS AGO Zheng had defeated Alycia Parks in her first-round match, and as the WTA Newcomer of the Year last year she would have had high hopes of making an impression in 2023, but was unable to resist the Pole in Germany. Swiatek converted two of three break points in the first set and swiftly took it 6-1, but her momentum faltered a little as Zheng moved to 3-2 behind to at least improve upon her first-set showing.

For a moment it looked like the promising up-and-comer from China was going to force things to a deciding third set when she took the scores to 4-4, but Swiatek took the remaining games to move into the quarter-finals. Nadal pulls out of Madrid Open due to injury concerns Alcaraz sets up Davidovich Fokina quarter-final after tough win over Bautista Agut 'He'd win five Slams with me' — Djokovic 'would love to coach Kyrgios' «I'm really happy that I'm not rusty,» Swiatek said after her victory.