Iga Swiatek Fights off toughy start to reach last 16 in Montreal 

World No.1 Iga Swiatek won her opening match for the 30th consecutive time. Her latest was a 7-6 (6), 6-2 victory against Karolina Pliskova on Wednesday at the Omnium Banque Nationale in Montreal.

“Well, for sure it’s nice to have some challenges and overcome them,” Swiatek said in press after her match. “It wasn’t an easy first round, but I’m happy that I stayed solid, and I could close it in the first set because after having — I played two weeks ago in Warsaw, but still, I changed continents.”

“So I think any way we have to be ready for the next match and kind of expect that anything can happen because tennis can be pretty unpredictable,” Swiatek said. “You know, one player can have a bad day. At the same time the other one can play the best tennis of their life.”

Swiatek, making her tournament debut at this event, collected her Hologic WTA Tour-leading 48th victory, against only seven losses. This was the 22-year-old’s sixth consecutive win after winning her hometown tournament in Warsaw — and the second win of the year over Pliskova, going back to a title run in Stuttgart.