By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Monday, Aoril 29, 2024
Iga Swiatek blasted through 12 straight games in a 6-1, 6-0 shellacking of Sara Sorribes Tormo to reach the Madrid quarterfinals.
Photo credit: Clive Brunskill/Getty
Crouching in her return position, Iga Swiatek briefly closed her eyes in contemplation.
That was the calm before Swiatek unleashed a swirling shotmaking storm.
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The world No. 1 dropped the opening game then dropped the hammer on Sara Sorribes Tormo.
World No. 1 Swiatek blasted through 12 straight games in a 6-1, 6-0 shellacking of the Spaniard speeding into the Mutua Madrid Open quarterfinals in just 67 minutes.
"Well, basically I'm happy with the performance," Swiatek told the media in Madrid. "It was really solid, and I'm happy with the way I adjusted to Sara's game.
"Yeah, I feel like I already knew how she plays, you know, after these couple of matches we have played in Beijing and United Cup. I took a lesson from that, and I just played really efficiently."
Once she found her range and rhythm, Swiatek ravaged Sorribes Tormo in baseline exchanges.
The 55th-ranked Spaniard won just 10 of 38 points played on her serve, including winning only 7 of 29 points first-serve points.
Once the Swiatek express got rolling, Sorribes Tormo was powerless to stop the dynamic Pole.
The top seed sped through five of the final 10 games at love, winning 12 of 13 service points in the second set.
The 2023 Madrid finalist has dropped just eight games in three tournament wins this week. Swiatek raised her 2024 record to 27-4.
The four-time Grand Slam champion will face Beatriz Haddad Maia for a semifinal spot.
That match is a rematch of the 2023 Roland Garros semifinals that saw Swiatek score a 6-2, 7-6(7) win over Haddad Maia en route to her third Roland Garros championship.
"The biggest thing I remember is it was really tight in the first set. The tiebreaker was stressful," Swiatek said. "I remember the crowd also being crazy, because Brazilian crowd is, like, taking all these instruments with them and making small music festival on the audience. So it was for sure different experience, a good one but tough to handle.
"Yeah, it was a really intense match and long first set. I wouldn't expect an easy match against Bea, for sure. She's a great player. Yeah, we'll see."
The left-handed Haddad Maia erased four of six break points in a 6-4, 6-4 win over Maria Sakkari.
The 11th-seeded Brazilian scored her fourth win over Sakkari in as many meetings.
The 2022 Madrid champion Ons Jabeur swept seven games in a row sparking a 6-0, 6-4 thrashing of 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko.
It was dramatic role reversal for Jabeur, who revealed she practiced with Ostapenko in recent days and "she kicked my ass."
"It's a tricky match, definitely. You guys don't know, but I practiced with her and she kicked my ass a couple of days ago," Jabeur said of Ostapenko. "So I was coming to this match and I was, like, Okay, I'm going to try to jump everywhere and just put the ball in. Definitely the key here is to accept that she's going to play winners anytime she wants to.
"After winning that first set, I knew that the level is going to change for sure, you know, so getting ready and, yeah, very pleased with the way I played and definitely how I handled the end of the match."
Jabeur improved to 11-1 lifetime in Madrid and will face an American opponent—either US Open champion Coco Gauff or former US Open finalist Madison Keys—for a semifinal spot against the Swiatek-Haddad Maia winner.
"I think Coco plays unbelievable. You know, she's a tricky opponent," Jabeur said of Gauff. "She's such a fighter, as well. Doesn't give any, like, free points. So it's going to be definitely a difficult match if we play each other.
"We all know each other on the court and off the court, what we like, what we don't like. Yeah, I'm going to, again, focus on myself, be ready, enjoy every point that I can play on this court healthy. It's I think maybe the most important thing for me right now.
"Maddie, completely different player on the court. I think she plays unbelievable. I think I need to have my feet grounded, because she hits really hard, and sometimes, you know, you stay unbalanced. So I hope they play for four hours and get tired and not be ready for tomorrow."