Six-Time Major Champion Iga Swiatek Grinds Into the Wuhan Open Round of 16, WTA Finals Spot at Stake

For most of the last five seasons, Iga Swiatek was the problem the rest of the tour had to solve. In Wuhan she turned up as the one with a problem to solve, chasing a place in a year-end field she has not missed since her rise, and the way she beat fellow Pole Magdalena Frech said more about her than the lopsided score.

She did not blow Frech away. She outlasted her. Swiatek dropped serve early, spent a long opening set fending off break points, and only then let the forehand loose. Her own account of the plan sounded almost unlike her: stay solid, don’t play “too crazy.” That is how a chaser talks, and this autumn the six-time major champion is chasing.

The final score was 6-2, 6-1 in one hour and 42 minutes, her 40th win of the season. The first set alone ran past the hour, AFP reported. Swiatek came back from 0-2, saved seven of the eight break points Frech earned, and needed four set points to close it. Then she ran off ten straight games to lead 4-0 in the second before Frech broke her once.

“We know each other pretty well, so I just wanted to focus on being consistent and playing as good as possible,” Swiatek said. “I know she is running to every ball always and sometimes using the power of the opponent, so I wanted to not play too crazy but play solid and I’m happy that I did that.”

Restraint has a reason this week. Swiatek arrived in Wuhan 10th in the race for the WTA Finals, held this year at Indian Wells. She has played every edition since 2021 and won the title in 2023. She has never had to scramble for a ticket, and she said so before her first match. “It’s the first time I’ve faced a situation like that, to get into the finals,” she told reporters, according to Reuters. “It’s a challenge, but I feel like it’s a positive one and I’m really motivated … There are still a few tournaments ahead.”

The season explains the hole. One title, the Canadian Open in August. No Grand Slam run past the quarterfinals. She started the year at No. 2 and had slipped to No. 4 by early April, when she ended her partnership with Wim Fissette, the coach who took her to the 2025 Wimbledon title, and hired Francisco Roig, who spent 2005 to 2022 in Rafael Nadal‘s team. “I needed to change some stuff, and Francisco has a really great idea for my game,” she said on the eve of Wuhan.

That idea hit a wall in Beijing last week. Elise Mertens beat her 7-6, 6-3 in the China Open quarterfinals, winning the tiebreak 7-0. Just Women’s Sports noted that no one had ever blanked Swiatek in a tiebreak on the pro tour before. Coming off that loss, a careful, unglamorous win over Frech was the right first step.

The math is tight. Officially, four of the eight singles places were still open when the week began. By Tennis365’s count, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Elina Svitolina are as good as in, which leaves Karolina Muchova several hundred points clear of Swiatek for the last spot, with Marta Kostyuk just above her. The Wuhan champion takes 1,000 points. After this week, only Ningbo and Tokyo remain, both 500-level events, before the Finals run from November 8 to 15.

The draw has opened for her. Third seed Mirra Andreeva withdrew before her first match and Anna Kalinskaya pulled out ill, so Swiatek will not meet a seed before the quarterfinals. Her next opponent will be a lucky loser either way, Lanlana Tararudee or Ashlyn Krueger. Frech had also entered the main draw as a lucky loser.

The wall waiting in the quarterfinals is Aryna Sabalenka, if the draw holds. The top seed has won Wuhan three times and has beaten Swiatek in their last two meetings, although Swiatek still leads their rivalry 8-5. Two years ago Swiatek withdrew from this same event hours after splitting with Tomasz Wiktorowski. This time she stayed, and she is playing for points.

Solid got her past Frech. Against Sabalenka, with a Finals streak on the line, solid is only the entry fee.

Tags: Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek, WTA Finals, Wuhan Open, Magdalena Frech