Iga Swiatek started her campaign at the 2023 Madrid Open and it was in a way that we saw her do it so many times over the past 12 months.
The young Pole recently talked about consistency and it's surely something that she possesses as she demonstrated in her opening match at the WTA 1000 event in the Spanish capital. Ahead of the tournament, Swiatek was probably already preparing for a second-round clash with fellow Grand Slam champion Emma Raducanu, but it wasn't the Brit who she met in her opening match.
Since the 2021 US Open champion was forced to pull out of the tournament, world no. 92 Julia Grabher replaced her in the draw as a lucky loser and she made sure to use her chance well. In the first round, she defeated Viktoriya Tomova in two sets to set up a second-round meeting with the world no. 1.
Because of her incredibly successful 2022 season, Swiatek is defending a lot of points this year and because current world no. 2 Aryna Sabalenka had a better start of the season, the Pole will soon have to fight for her world no. 1 spot, but so far, she's avoiding the pressure really well.
The world no. 1 didn't wait around in her opening match in Madrid and she broke her opponent's serve already in the fourth game, using her first break point int he match. Swiatek could then increase the lead in the sixth game, but this time she wasn't so efficient on a break point.
But that wasn't needed as she stayed perfect on her serve, not facing any break points throughout the first set, and winning the opening set 6-3 to get a needed advantage in her first match at the 2023 Madrid Open.
In the past, Swiatek competed at the Madrid Open only once and her participation ended with a third-round loss to then world no. 1 Ashleigh Barty. This year, her ambitions will be much higher and she showed that also in the second set.
The Pole broke her opponent twice in the first three games, and even though she then lost her serve once, the 21-year-old was able to add one more break and after an hour and 19 minutes, she could already thank crowd at the Manolo Santana Stadium for their support after a 6-3, 6-2 win,
Swiatek will want to keep the clay-court perfection for as long as possible as she started another winning streak with Stuttgart triumph and she's yet to lose a match on the red dirt this year. Up next, she will take on the 28th-seeded Bernarda Pera from the United States.
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