No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek and No. 16 Maja Chwalinska will face each other in an all-Polish semifinal at the Wuhan Open in China, marking a significant occasion for Polish tennis. The WTA 1000 tournament’s quarterfinals on Friday saw Swiatek secure a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Ann Li in 93 minutes, while Chwalinska edged past Greece’s Maria Sakkari 6-0, 3-6, 7-5 in a match lasting two hours and 35 minutes.
Meanwhile, unseeded Sonay Kartal of Great Britain and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko will contest the other semifinal after both recorded upset wins. Kartal overcame No. 5 seed Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in just over two hours, marking only her second career victory against a top-10 opponent. Ostapenko defeated No. 11 Diana Shnaider of Russia 7-6 (8-6), 6-1 in one hour and 45 minutes, rallying from a 5-2 deficit in the opening set and dominating with a 32-8 margin in winners.
Swiatek’s progression to the semifinals represents another milestone. She became the fourth player since 2009—and the only active competitor—to reach the semifinals at all 10 current WTA 1000 events. Swiatek and Chwalinska, who were once junior doubles partners, reflected on their shared history and expressed anticipation for the upcoming match.
“It’s great that we have two Polish players in the semifinals. I think it means a lot to Polish tennis,” Swiatek said during her on-court interview. “So hopefully it’s going to be a nice match. I’m really happy for Maja. She for sure improved her game this year, so I’ll be looking forward to the match.”
Chwalinska echoed similar sentiments, emphasizing their longstanding connection. “I feel like I know her forever because basically we started playing tournaments together,” she said. “It would be amazing, really. I think it would be great for us, and great for Polish tennis as well. It would be a great honor for me also because she’s such a great champion. She’s done almost everything in our sport, so it would be a great privilege to play.”
This encounter marks only the second time since the tournament’s inception in 2014 that two players from the same country have met in the semifinals, following a meeting between China’s Qinwen Zheng and Xinyu Wang in 2024.
Chwalinska secured her win against Sakkari by breaking serve for the fourth time, despite Sakkari hitting more winners (37 to 25) but also committing more unforced errors (35 to 23). Kartal’s victory over Svitolina was clinched with a service break in the final game, while Ostapenko’s strong performance included exploiting Shnaider’s struggles on her second serve, winning only 35% of those points.
The semifinals promise competitive matchups as each player seeks to advance to Sunday’s final.