Iga Swiatek recovered from 4–6, 2–5 to beat Donna Vekic 4–6, 7–6(0), 6–2 in Beijing’s third round on October 5, 2026. In a match lasting 2 hours and 40 minutes, she won all seven points in the second-set tiebreak.
Before reaching that breaker, Swiatek broke Vekic twice to level the set at 5–5. Recovering those two return games kept the contest alive; the one-sided tiebreak then forced a deciding set.
The players exchanged breaks early in the third before Swiatek broke again for 3–2 and moved on to 6–2. Afterwards, she said that playing more aggressively down the line from the second set had changed the match’s rhythm.
Swiatek had won all four earlier meetings with Vekic, but this one had come close to ending in straight sets. The comeback secured her 40th WTA 1000 fourth-round appearance, with Iva Jovic next after a 6–1, 7–5 win over Kamilla Rakhimova.
