Iga Swiatek bounced back from her Stuttgart disappointment with a pretty impressive win over Xiyu Wang at the 2024 Madrid Open.
The last time the Pole stood on a tennis court was last week at the WTA 500 event in Stuttgart, where Elena Rybakina surprisingly beat her. It was an event where she had won twice in the past and had been unbeaten before that match, so the surprise was quite big.
Now, she returned to winning ways this week at the Madrid Open. This is a clay event that she's yet to win, so don't underestimate her motivation, especially after how last week went.
Last year, Aryna Sabalenka got the better of her, though the Belarusian is not playing that well this year, so the same thing is unlikely to happen again.
The first match for Swiatek here was against Wang, who proved no match for the ruthless Polish player. It's not a huge surprise given how the two play. Swiatek is a solid baseliner who rarely gets outhit by another player.
Wang is similar, but she often gets outhit on the tennis courts because she's very streaky. This match was not one of her days, though the constant pressure from Swiatek certainly didn't help.
When Wang did put together a few solid rallies, the world no. 1 was able to counter that easily with her tremendous movement. It was a very fast-paced match as both players looked to end the rallies as quickly as possible.
It played right into Swiatek's hands, as she's the far better player when it comes to this. The first set was 6-1 for Swiatek, and the result was never really in doubt.
She continued to play well in the second set, and the final score was 6-1 6-4, as Swiatek advanced to the third round of the 2024 Madrid Open.
0 Comments