The first and second sets were tied at 4-all. In the opening set, Swiatek broke Qinwen’s serve for a 5-4 lead before holding serve.
With the score tied 4-all in the second set, it was Qinwen who broke Swiatek for a 5-4 advantage. Qinwen fended off five break points before claiming the ninth game. Qinwen then broke Swiatek to tie the match at a set apiece.
As tightly contested as the opening sets were, Swiatek quickly grabbed a 5-1 led in the third. She captured the decisive final game, winning four straight points at love.
“This draw is so good that I wasn’t expecting any easy matches,” said Swiatek, who reached last Sunday’s finals of the Agel Open in Ostrava, Czech Republic, before losing to former No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova, who was competing in her native country.
Later Thursday, sixth-seeded Coco Gauff got past unseeded Bianca Andreescu of Canada 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, showing off her fiery shotmaking in the decisive third set.
“There were some turning points, but every game mattered, every point mattered,” Gauff said. “We both fought hard and the atmosphere was great.”
Early in the third set, Gauff faced a 3-1 deficit before taking charge and winning the next five games.
Gauff’s lunging down-the-line forehand just out of Andreescu’s reach sent her into Friday’s quarterfinal match against the top-seed Swiatek.
The match will be a reprise of this year’s French Open final, won in straight sets by Swiatek, who also defeated Gauff in the 2021 Italian Open.
“Iga is a champion, so we’ll see how things go this time,” said the 18-year-old Gauff, who has competed against Swiatek since both were highly-ranked juniors.
