Iga Świątek loses to Elise Mertens in Beijing quarterfinal — Interia Sport

In Beijing, China, Iga Świątek lost to Belgian Elise Mertens in the quarterfinals of the WTA tennis tournament, 6:7 (0), 3:6. The defeat prevented the Polish tennis player from reducing the gap to her rivals in the seasonal WTA Race for places in the WTA Finals, Interia Sport reports.

Positions in the seasonal race

Before Świątek's quarterfinal match against Mertens, Karolína Muchová and Elina Svitolina had also ended their runs. A victory by the Polish player would have allowed her to make up 175 points in the battle with these opponents.

In the WTA Race ranking cited by the outlet after the China Open semifinals, Świątek is tenth with 3,799 points. Marta Kostyuk is ninth with 3,910 points, Karolína Muchová is seventh with 4,615 points, while Elina Svitolina is sixth with 5,024 points.

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Świątek trails Svitolina by 1,225 points and Muchová by 816. In the match against Mertens, the Belgian hit more winners than Świątek and made three times fewer unforced errors.

Next tournament in Wuhan

Świątek, Svitolina, Muchová and Kostyuk will play in the next tournament in Wuhan. According to Interia Sport, all of them are seeded in the top eight and will begin their campaigns in the second round. The tournament winner will receive 1,000 ranking points.

Świątek is also entered in the WTA 500 tournament in Ningbo. The outlet notes that her participation in this event may depend on whether she can reduce the gap to Muchová in the battle to qualify for the season-ending tournament.