Paolini dominates her nemesis for the first time: a victory against Swiatek and a spot in the semifinals in Wuhan

Jasmine Paolini defeated Iga Swiatek for the first time in her career in Wuhan.

The last quarterfinal of the day at the WTA 1000 in Wuhan featured Jasmine Paolini against Iga Swiatek, a clash between two top 10 players. In their head-to-head matchups, the Polish world number 2 had a commanding lead with six wins to zero, and had only lost one set to her opponent in their previous encounters.

The task seemed daunting for the Italian, who had already defeated Yuan and Tauson earlier in the tournament. Swiatek, back to a more respectable ranking after winning Wimbledon, Cincinnati, and Seoul, had eliminated Bouzkova and Bencic to reach the quarterfinals of this Wuhan tournament, which she did not participate in last year.

But even though she has regained confidence in recent months after a year-long title drought, the 24-year-old player can still experience some lapses. In a match where she made many unforced errors, Swiatek clearly could do nothing to reverse the trend.

In just over an hour of play, Paolini prevailed (6-1, 6-2 in 1h04) and dominated her opponent for the very first time in her career. She takes advantage of this to advance to the semifinals, where she will face Coco Gauff, who easily defeated Laura Siegemund earlier in the day. The other semifinal will feature Aryna Sabalenka against Jessica Pegula.