Top seed Iga Swiatek, through to the last eight of the Cincinnati Open, maintained her unbeaten record over 15th-seeded Marta Kostyuk. Swiatek dropped on average under two games per set as she secured a 6-2, 6-2 scoreline in 70 minutes. Rain played havoc with the schedule on Thursday, which made this match the first to be played in full that day.
The only second-round matches still pending were Jessica Pegula vs. Karolina Muchova, Zheng Qinwen vs. Magdalena Frech and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Caroline Wozniacki.
Swiatek defeated Kostyuk in their only meeting at the professional level, at this year's Indian Wells in the semi-finals, and once in the junior category in 2017.
The win puts the Polish player through to her second Cincinnati quarterfinal—she made the semifinals last year—for her ninth quarterfinal showing of the 2024 season. She now boasts a 54-6 win-loss tally for the year.
She had come back to playing on hard courts much earlier in Cincinnati Open during the tournament, where Swiatek got her first win in style, beating Varvara Gracheva 6-0, 6-7 (8), 6-2. This was her first match back in competition after winning the zone medal in women's singles tennis for Poland during the Paris Olympic Games.
She came into Cincinnati looking to capture her 11th WTA 1000 title and fifth of the season. Ten WTA 1000 titles since the inception of the tournament in 2009 are tied for the most with Victoria Azarenka and second to Serena Williams' 13.
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