Iga Swiatek 'wakes up' to join Jessica Pegula in winning her Tokyo debut

Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula kicked off their Tokyo campaigns Wednesday by winning their second-round matches at the WTA 500 event.

Appearing for the first time since falling in the fourth round of the US Open to Jelena Ostapenko, Swiatek overcame qualifier Mai Hontama, 6-4, 7-5, in a topsy-turvy event debut.

“The conditions are not easy, especially with the humidity,” Swiatek said on-court afterwards.

“I’m pretty happy that I could really problem solve, because for sure at the beginning of the match, I felt like I needed to wake up and start playing more of my game.”

Swiatek isn’t a stranger to the venue, having competed at the Ariake Coliseum in 2021 when she represented Poland at the Tokyo Olympics. The top seed started slowly, going down a double break to the local hopeful before stringing together five straight games.

It was then Hontama’s turn to mount a comeback, erasing a 1-5 deficit to get back on serve in the second set after saving a pair of match points. Swiatek ultimately regrouped to break the Japanese for a seventh time to end the contest.

Pegula’s day at the office was much more routine. The No. 2 seed dispatched Cristina Bucsa, 6-1, 6-2, by winning all of her service games. She improved to 20-1 this season against players ranked outside of the Top 50.

Like Swiatek, Pegula also played here two years ago in Olympic competition but is making her Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis debut. The world No. 4 is through to her 11th quarterfinal of the season as she seeks her fourth career title, all on hard courts. Pegula is aiming to win her first trophy outside of North America, having triumphed in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

Eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova also advanced to the last eight when she beat Kayla Day, 6-3, 6-3. Ekaterina Alexandrova eliminated seventh-seeded Liudmila Samsonova with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Incoming Guadalajara champion Maria Sakkari is among the competitors in action Thursday. The No. 4 seed takes on Misaki Doi in the home favorite's farewell tournament.