"Match balls are pretty stressfull" - Swiatek admits to nerves after needing 11 MP's to end match

Iga Swiatek advanced to the 3rd round of the Madrid Open following a win over Siegemund but it was far from pretty.

It was a solid match from Iga Swiatek overall but she needed 11 MP's to close out the match which could have been a disaster had she somehow lost the match. Siegemund had strong moments in the match especially in the 2nd set but her inconsistency proved her undoing.

Speaking on the struggles to end the match Swiatek said:

"I learned that you have to be patient. Really, it was pretty hard to close that match. Match balls are pretty stressful because you know you're almost at the end. Sometimes a crazy idea may come up. I tried to just be focused on my basic game, to play safe."

Playing safe is a double-edged sword sometimes as the lack of aggression back become troublesome if the opposing players sniff a chance. For Swiatek it eventually proved successful despite her making a lot of unforced errors which she admitted:

"Anyway, I made a lot of little mistakes. I wasn't sure where it came from. It was pretty annoying. It just shows that Laura is a great fighter. You could see that also in previous games. In the second game of the second set, she had amazing rallies, amazing points. She's fighting till the end and she's not giving anything for free."

Swiatek is looking forward to the match against Barty with whom she practices a few months ago saying:

"I really respect her. I want to kind of win every match, I want to win right now. Sometimes I'm not giving myself time. She did that."