Madrid (Spain) – In your hundredth week at number 1 of the world, Iga Swiatek began his search for an unprecedented title at the WTA 1000 in Madrid. Last year’s finalist in the tournament, this Thursday the Polish overcame Chinese Xiyu Wang, a 23-year-old left-hander and 52nd in the rankings, with scores of 6/1 and 6/4 in 1h17 of play.
This is the only major European clay tournament that Swiatek has never won. The 22-year-old player is a three-time Roland Garros champion and two-time champion in Rome and Stuttgart. In the Spanish capital, she makes her third appearance, falling in the round of 16 in 2021, against Ashleigh Barty and surpassed by Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s decision. She did not play in 2022 due to a shoulder injury.
Swiatek’s opponent in the third round in Madrid will be the Romanian Sorana Cirstea, an experienced 34-year-old player and 30th in the rankings, who defeated the 18-year-old Filipina Alexandra Eala, ranked 170th, by 6/3, 6/7 (6-8 ) and 6/4. The world number 1 won the three previous duels against Cirstea and conceded just one set. This year, they faced each other in Doha, with a comfortable double 6/1 victory for the leader of the ranking.
Overtaken by number 1 in the world this Thursday, Wang was coming off a difficult comeback in his debut. She was on court for 3h20 last Tuesday and saved a match point in her victory over Romanian Ana Bogdan 6/7 (5-7), 7/6 (7-4) and 6/2. The Chinese reached the best ranking of her career in January, at 49th place, and won her first WTA at the end of last year in Guangzhou. This year, she also finished second in Austin.
Number 1 managed five breaks and easily led in the winners
Swiatek’s quiet victory began to be built with a break in the opening game. And two games later, she managed to extend the lead to 3/0. The world number 1 faced just two break points in the first set, going 15-40 to go 4/0. And she knew how to take advantage of the faster conditions in Madrid to dominate the points, playing aggressively. Swiatek finished the first set with a wide advantage in winners, 13 to 2.
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The considerable difference in the score only increased at the beginning of the second set and Swiatek continued to dominate the match. With another break in service, the Polish woman won 3/0 and continued to put pressure on Wang’s service games. But she couldn’t widen the difference on the scoreboard and ended up going through a moment of oscillation, with two long games on serve and allowing the Chinese to draw. Balance prevailed, but in the last game of the match, Wang made two double faults, which cost him another break and elimination. Swiatek easily led the winners count by 20 to 5 and made 22 errors to the Chinese’s 15. The Polish player managed five breaks and only lost one service game.
