World No. 1 WTA leader Iga Swiatek of Poland barely made it to the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters in the USA after a fabulous match lasting about 3 hours against the 17-year-old Russian, Mira Andreeva.
Swiatek defeated the young Mira, who recently won the WTA Iași title, with a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, after a two-hour and 40-minute game.
The Polish player, who recently won Olympic bronze in Paris, was then harshly criticized by a former world leader in men's tennis after complaining about the extremely busy schedule of competitions on the circuit.
"Obviously, it's not our decision, but I certainly believe that we have too many tournaments in the season - it won't end well and makes tennis less fun for us. We deserve a bit more rest," Iga Swiatek told Sky Sports.
Former ATP leader Yevgeny Kafelnikov had a strong reaction towards the Polish player. Yevgeny Kafelnikov, a two-time Grand Slam champion, wrote on his X account, former Twitter, that Iga just complains a lot all the time and should earn much less money than she does now: "Is someone forcing you to play??? All you do is complain!! I'll tell you what you deserve! You deserve to be paid much less than you are now!! How about that??" Yevgeny Kafelnikov transmitted.
Swiatek will face her great rival, Aryna Sabalenka from Belarus, in the Cincinnati semifinals. In the match against Andreeva, Iga marked her 30th victory on a WTA 1000 Masters tournament draw.
D.A.