Got there in the end 👏 @iga_swiatek survives a shaky second set to overcome Alexandrova to reach her maiden quarterfinal in Madrid! #MMOPEN
World No.1 Iga Swiatek survives unlikely Alexandrova test at Madrid Open
WTATuesday, 02 May 2023 at 01:09
World No.1 Iga Swiatek was seemingly cruising towards another dominant win against Ekaterina Alexandrova but ended up having an unlikely test to reach the Quarter-Finals for the first time at the Madrid Open.
Swiatek sat a set and 5-2 up only needing a service hold to book her spot but had to play a deciding set as Alexandrova wouldn't relent and frustration started to build.
But in the end, she found a way to seal a 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 win. She will now face Petra Martic.
A semi-final showdown too with Jessica Pegula is still in the pipeline with the third seed seeing off Martina Trevisan earlier on Monday evening. She now faces Veronika Kudermetova.
Swiatek was broken in the very first game of the match and with Alexandrova consolidating, it was a 2-0 and 3-1 lead in the early going to the Russian.
But that was soon eroded as Swiatek began to get better and Alexandrova more error-strewn and she took an easy break back for 3-3 before producing the same to seal the set at 6-4.
The second set saw an early break for Swiatek at 2-0 who breezed through her service games without too much issue until the match was seemingly heading towards its conclusion or so was the thought.
She gathered frustration as Swiatek was broken serving for the win and Alexandrova was suddenly serving for 5-5 looking to head towards forcing a final set.
But Swiatek forced Alexandrova into errors with superb quality to bring up a match point for the first time. Alexandrova didn't fold with a superb forehand and brought up an advantage with an unreturnable serve into the net and she made it 5-5.
Her aggressive style yielded further results as Swiatek was forced into a tie-break. A mini-break saw Alexandrova take early control and back-to-back aces brought up a 5-2 lead.
Alexandrova brought up two set points and on the second set point sealed it. Swiatek led 3-1 in the deciding set and looked back towards her dominant best but Alexandrova staved off a break threat coming from 30-0 down to make it 3-2.
Swiatek held her serve to make it 4-2 and she didn’t allow Alexandrova to trouble her serve sweeping through again to make it 5-3. Three match points were set up on the Russian’s serve and she went long which saw victory for Swiatek.
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