Four-time Grand Slam champion and world number 2 Iga Swiatek beat Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-4 6-3 on her debut at the China Open in Beijing. Swiatek broke seven times and hit 27 winners to 25 unforced errors.
Both players traded breaks at the start of the opening set. Swiatek earned her second break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. The Polish player fired 17 winners and won 15 of her 17 net points in the first set.
There were eight breaks in nine games. Swiatek won 12 of the first 14 points of the second set to race out to a 3-0 lead with a double break. Sorribes Tormo broke three times in the second set, but Swiatek broke in all five of her service games.
Swiatek set up a second round match against Varvara Gracheva.
“Today I felt really confident and comfortable because I have been practicing that a lot. I am pretty proud of my performance at the net because, technically, I feel like my volley has changed. I am really happy with that. I think against some players it’s necessary to go to the net. Today that was that kind of a match”, said Swiatek.
Jelena Ostapenko reached the Round of 16 via walkover after Linda Noskova withdrew from the match due to illness.
