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Iga Swiatek didn’t have it easy against local hope Mai Hontama in their second-round match at the Tokyo Open on Wednesday. The top seed, who’s currently ranked 2nd in the world, eventually prevailed 6-4, 7-5 after two hours and two minutes.
The start of the match was horrendous for Swiatek. The Pole quickly went two breaks down to the qualifier allowing the latter to gain a 4-1 lead over her. However, Swiatek did get past her sluggish start from that game onwards and turned the set around.
She won the next five games in a row to capture the set and go up in the match. Despite the shift in momentum in the latter part of the first set, Swiatek fell behind a break in the opening game of the second set. She retrieved the break back immediately and then broke Hontama twice more in the set, gaining the chance to serve for the match in the seventh game.
Hontama then won four straight games to bring the set to parity at five-all. However, Hontama’s serve came under pressure in the 12th game and Swiatek had a couple of match points. In the end, the Japanese wasn’t able to save them, and handed her opponent passage into the quarter-finals.
Swiatek didn’t have a…
