Iga Swiatek gained access to the round of 16 of the Mutua Madrid Open by clearly defeating the 27th seed with a double 6-1 Sorana Cirstea. The result was never in question and the Pole will challenge the home player Sara Sorribes Tormo.
The Spaniard is having a magnificent moment and has defeated before Elina Svitolina and then Victoria Azarenka.
Swiatek on Rafael Nadal: “He was the only player I paid attention to as a child”
“I’m happy with my performance, especially the way I maintained the intensity from start to finish.
I felt at peace and very confident. We didn’t know whether we were going to play with the roof closed or not until 15 minutes before we took the field. It felt like being at Roland Garros 2020 because of the weather,” the WTA number one said at a press conference.
“What makes me one of the favourites? I think about the mental aspect, I try to always do the same job and I don’t think about the score. Sometimes it’s difficult to close a match, because you can lose concentration. I want to continue like this.”
Swiatek has always confessed the great admiration he feels towards Rafael Nadal. The 22-time Slam champion took revenge against Alex de Minaur in Madrid. “I hope he plays as much as possible.
He has always been a great source of inspiration. I speak in the past tense because as a child he was the only player I paid attention to, but not only for his clay tennis. I paid attention to how he behaved off the pitch, his mentality and his ability to never give up.”
