It took quite an effort from
Iga Swiatek to defeat
Sorana Cirstea and reach the quarterfinals but she was able to do it 5-7 6-3 6-3.
Cirstea played a brilliant event in Melbourne coming very close to securing her first quarterfinal at a grand slam in a decade. She defeated some good opposition and played rather bravely against Swiatek but the quality was firmly on the side of the Polish player. It was not a perfect match by Swiatek and she had her issues but eventually, when it mattered the most she came up with what was needed.
The start of the first set saw Cirstea jump out to an early lead after some early misses by Swiatek. Midway through the set, Swiatek was able to fight back into the match and even take a 5-4 lead. Cirstea won her service game to stay in the match and eventually win the set with 7-5.
At the start of the 2nd set, Swiatek took a 2-0 lead but gave it right back to make it 2-2. Eventually, she did find some break points again and took the lead. She finished off the set with 6-3 after some bad misses by Cirstea. Both of them played aggressively and ultimately Swiatke was the better hitter. The final set opened better by Cirstea.
She had a very good chance to take a 3-1 lead early but a 12-minute game finished with Swiatek making it 2-2. After that, the game of Cirstea slowly fell apart as Swiatek upped the pressure and finished it off with 6-3.