Following a power outage that disrupted play the previous day, Iga Swiatek resumed her campaign at the Mutua Madrid Open. She secured her spot in the next round, although not without facing significant difficulty.
The defending champion, seeded second, defeated the 13th seed, Diana Shnaider, in a three-set match lasting 2 hours and 34 minutes, with a final score of 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4. Despite dominating the first set, which she won 6-0 in just 22 minutes, Swiatek faced strong resistance later in the match, successfully defending against 11 of 13 break points she faced.
This victory marks Swiatek`s seventh consecutive tournament reaching at least the quarterfinals this year, though she hasn`t advanced past the semifinals since winning Roland Garros last year. Her next opponent in the quarterfinals will be the fifth seed, Madison Keys, the reigning Australian Open champion, who advanced by defeating Donna Vekic. This upcoming match will be their first encounter since their meeting in the Australian Open semifinals, where Keys defeated Swiatek. Overall, Swiatek maintains a 4-2 lead in their head-to-head record, including a perfect 3-0 record against Keys on clay.
By reaching the Madrid quarterfinals, Swiatek, a four-time winner at Roland Garros, extends her impressive streak of consecutive clay-court quarterfinals to 17. This run began after her third-round exit in Madrid in 2021 and is the longest such streak witnessed since Martina Hingis achieved 19 consecutive clay-court quarterfinals between 1997 and 2002.
