Back in form: Iga Swiatek impresses with dominant victory over Potapova to begin Cincinnati campaign

Iga Swiatek returned to winning ways on hardcourts after defeating Anastasia Potapova in a convincing 6-1, 6-4 match, guaranteeing her spot in the Round of 32 of the Cincinnati Open. The 6-time Grand Slam champion begins to leave behind her surprising defeat in the fourth round of the Canadian Open and delivered a powerful serving performance.

The Pole, a recent Wimbledon champion, will have another opportunity to achieve a good result in a WTA 1000. After reaching the semifinals in three of the first five WTA 1000 tournaments of the season, she suffered early defeats at the Rome Open (Third Round) and Canadian Open (4th round). Nevertheless, the win against Potapova becomes her 20th of the season in WTA 1000 tournaments.

The world No. 3 has an important points defense this week, as she reached the semifinals in 2024, falling to Jessica Pegula. The Pole currently starts in good form and is preparing for a third-round match against the always-complicated Marta Kostyuk (25th seed), who comes from a victory over Tatjana Maria (6-0, 6-1).

Swiatek's impeccable serve leads to a 6-1 first set

It was a dominant first set from Swiatek on her serve, which began with her first service game won at love, while Potapova responded by holding her first service game, coming back from a 0-30 deficit. The Pole began to show from the start that she would not give away points and quickly took control in the next game with her serve.

In fact, Swiatek was relentless with her serve, winning 100% of the points on her first serve and 84% overall. Potapova not only found herself unable to do much on return, but she was overwhelmed by her opponent when she was serving, winning barely two service points in the rest of the set. Swiatek took five consecutive games—including two breaks—and easily closed out the set 6-1 after 26 minutes.

Potapova fights back, but Swiatek secures victory in tense second set

In the second set, Potapova managed to start balancing things out. She came back from a 0-30 deficit to defend a service game, taking the lead. However, Swiatek quickly caught up and took a break in the third game, taking a 2-1 lead. Potapova managed to break back—in perhaps the only moments when Swiatek showed some doubt on her serve.

The match leveled out, and the Russian gained confidence to keep pace with the former world No. 1. Things seemed even for the first time in the match at 3-3, but then came a break in favor of Swiatek, which gave her the definitive advantage to take the set shortly after.

The Pole was serving at 5-4 with the possibility of closing out the victory and had to save up to three break points against a Potapova who was fighting to stay alive in the match. Nevertheless, the 6-time Grand Slam champion ended up closing out the win 6-1, 6-4 on her second match point and secured her spot in the Round of 32.

Match Statistics Swiatek vs. Potapova

Swiatek to face familiar foe Marta Kostyuk

The third-round match will be against the always-complicated Marta Kostyuk, who had a great debut in the tournament, conceding only one game against Tatjana Maria. The 25th seed secured four breaks on 10 opportunities and did not concede a single break opportunity to her opponent. The Ukrainian earned her 30th victory in a WTA 1000 main draw to set up a meeting with Swiatek for the fourth time in her career.

The rivalry between the Pole and the Ukrainian is currently led by Swiatek 3-0, with their last match being exactly one year ago, also in Cincinnati. So far in their three matches, Kostyuk has never won a set or given Swiatek too much trouble, as Swiatek took 36 games and conceded only 14 in the total of their three matches.