Elise Mertens scored one of the biggest upsets of the 2026 China Open, taking down No. 8 seed Iga Świątek 7-6(0), 6-3 during their quarterfinal match on Friday in Beijing. The win gave the Belgian her first victory over Świątek in three WTA meetings.
The win also propelled Mertens to her first WTA 1000 semifinal in five years.
Confident Tiebreak Earns Mertens the Win in Beijing
Mertens dictated play from the opening game, winning 87% of her first-serve points while never facing a break point.
After a tight first set, she ran away with the tiebreak 7-0, becoming the first player to blank Świątek in a tiebreak at the pro tour level. She then broke early in the second to close out the match in one hour and 50 minutes.
"Sometimes you just grow into a tournament," Mertens said of her China Open run.
That growth has been hard to miss. Before toppling Świątek, the Belgian knocked off Grand Slam champions Jelena Ostapenko and Coco Gauff in back-to-back rounds. It's the first time she's beaten multiple major winners at a single event since 2019.
Next, Mertens faces home favorite Qinwen Zheng in Saturday's semifinal, with a spot in her first WTA 1000 final on the line.
