China Open: Swiatek comes through big Garcia battle to reach the semi-finals in Beijing

Iga Swiatek overcame a huge scare against an inspired Caroline Garcia to beat the Frenchwoman 6-7 (8), 7-6 (5), 6-1 and move into the semi-finals of the China Open.

Ninth-seeded Garcia went toe-to-toe with the World No 2 for much of the match, winning the first set on a competitive tiebreak before narrowly losing the second in the same vein.

From there, the Roland-Garros champion was comfortable enough to power through the decider 6-1. But not before Caroline Garcia had put the Pole through her paces with some superb tennis.

Swiatek, ranked No 2, will play the winner of the match between Greek Maria Sakkari, the No 6 seed, and American Coco Gauff, the No 3 seed, next.

The 22-year-old Pole defeated Spaniard Sara Sorribes Tormo (6-4, 6-3), Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva (6-4, 6-1) and Magda Linette (6-1, 6-1) ahead of her victory.

In the previous rounds of the Beijing tournament, Garcia, ranked No 10, won against Ukrainian qualifier Kateryna Baindl (6-2, 6-4), Kazakh qualifier Yulia Putintseva (6-3, 3-6, 6-3) and Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina (6-3, 6-2).

Beijing WTA 1000, other last-eight results (National Tennis Center, hard, USD 8.127.389, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Elena Rybakina
• Jelena Ostapenko vs. Liudmila Samsonova
• Maria Sakkari vs. Coco Gauff