Iga Swiatek continues her chase for the elusive Madrid title, one she is still heavy favourite to win at this stage of the tournament despite it still only being the fourth round. She will play Ekaterina Alexandrova, whom she shares a 1-1 head to head record with currently. The World No.1 won the their last meeting in Ostrava last year, edging a close one in Alexandrova’s favoured indoor conditions.
It speaks volumes to Swiatek’s dominance on the tour that it comes as something of a surprise that she has gone three wins without a 6-1 or 6-0 set. After winning in Stuttgart, she has won back-to-back matches with the scoreline of 6-3 6-2. She followed up the defeat of Julia Grabher against Bernarda Pera, who broke early before Swiatek took control of the match for good. She tightened things up on serve after the freak break to love, dropping just seven more points on serve in the whole match. “I’m happy that I’m getting my rhythm. Playing against a lefty is never easy…but I’m pretty happy that I was disciplined and focused.”
Alexandrova came through a tricky one in the previous round, mounting a comeback against Qinwen Zheng and winning in three sets. The Russian is not the most confident on clay usually but the Madrid altitude helping out aggressive players has seen her thrive here. She will lose some points if she fails to match last year’s semi final although a small fall to outside the Top 20 is nothing too dramatic.
Swiatek is still the heavy favourite although the likelihood of a one-sided match is far less likely at this event than any other clay one. Alexandrova is unlikely to be able to remain consistent enough against a much calmer opponent, who is still excellent defensively and will make her move a lot. The Russian has 13 aces and 10 double faults through two matches but will likely need a better ratio to much of a chance here.
Prediction – Iga Swiatek in straight sets
