Swiatek waits out weather, then crushes Azarenka

Iga Swiatek waited all afternoon to get on court and then rushed to victory over Victoria Azarenka as rainy weather finally moved on from the WTA Dubai event on Tuesday.

The second seed and world No. 2 won her fifth straight match – the last four in straight sets – over former Grand Slam champion Victoria Azarenka, taking just 75 minutes to reach the third round.

She will next face Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, a former Australian Open semi-finalist, for a quarter-final place at the 1000-level tournament where she played the final two years ago.”I’m happy we were able to play today; I finished it pretty quickly because the schedule is tight.

“Playing Vika, you never know what she’s going to bring. But I was ready to play my game and I’m happy that I was so solid.”The Polish winner struck more than 30 winners as she raced to victory with three of her nine unforced errors committed in the opening set.

Swiatek said that as a rare wet afternoon dragged on in the emirate, she had to keep tweaking her mental state.”During the first, like, three or four hours, I was just staying kind of pumped and being ready to play any time. 

“The second set of Jasmine’s (Paolini’s) match was pretty tight. Then I realised there’s no point to keep doing that (staying hyped) , and I was pretty relaxed.

“I just tried to kill time, not really think too much about the match.”