Iga Swiatek was pushed to three sets for the first time at this year's Australian Open, but the No.7 seed from Poland eventually prevailed against Sorana Cirstea 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 on Monday to reach her first quarterfinal at this event.
The 2020 Roland Garros champion will meet the unseeded Kaia Kanepi, who triumphed in a contest of wild momentum swings to upset No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(7). Kanepi is into her seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal but first at the Australian Open. At the age of 36 she has now reached that stage at every major.
Swiatek is into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal outside of Paris, where she also reached the last eight in 2021. However, she had to survive a stern test from World No.38 Cirstea before ultimately triumphing in a hard-fought 2-hour, 28-minute battle.
Words from the winner: "For sure, she put a lot of pressure on me," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I just had to overcome some doubts that I had. I did that pretty well, because I don't have a good statistic in terms of coming back after losing first sets. So it's still something I'm working on.
"These kind of matches are going to give me a lot of confidence for the future, because coming back from losing in the first set and against a player who's constantly going forward, it's pretty hard, and I did that. I feel like I can approach these different scenarios on court, and at the end it's pretty positive."
The 2020 Roland Garros champion will meet the unseeded Kaia Kanepi, who triumphed in a contest of wild momentum swings to upset No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-2, 7-6(7). Kanepi is into her seventh Grand Slam quarterfinal but first at the Australian Open. At the age of 36 she has now reached that stage at every major.
Swiatek is into her first Grand Slam quarterfinal outside of Paris, where she also reached the last eight in 2021. However, she had to survive a stern test from World No.38 Cirstea before ultimately triumphing in a hard-fought 2-hour, 28-minute battle.
Words from the winner: "For sure, she put a lot of pressure on me," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I just had to overcome some doubts that I had. I did that pretty well, because I don't have a good statistic in terms of coming back after losing first sets. So it's still something I'm working on.
"These kind of matches are going to give me a lot of confidence for the future, because coming back from losing in the first set and against a player who's constantly going forward, it's pretty hard, and I did that. I feel like I can approach these different scenarios on court, and at the end it's pretty positive."
Fast facts: Swiatek was the only player last season to make the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slam events. Despite being pushed hard by Cirstea, Swiatek now has a 29-2 win-loss record against opponents ranked outside the Top 30 in her Grand Slam history.
Cirstea was a set away from reaching her second Grand Slam quarterfinal, and her first in 13 years, since she reached that stage at 2009 Roland Garros. However, the former World No.21 was unable to hold on and collect the 16th Top 10 win of her career.
Nevertheless, this week's result continues a strong resurgence for the 31-year-old Cirstea, who ended a 13-year-drought between WTA singles titles last year in Istanbul. Cirstea has improved her ranking nearly 50 spots over the past 12 months.
Stat corner: Little separated the two powerful players statistically during their first meeting. Swiatek's 29 winners were nearly matched by the 27 from the Romanian's racquet, and the Pole had only three more unforced errors than Cirstea.
Swiatek was sturdier winning first-service points, winning 76 percent of those points while Cirstea had a 58 percent success rate. But Cirstea kept things close by claiming an excellent 76 percent of Swiatek's second-service points.
In the long run, Swiatek got enough of her first serves into play (64 percent) to make that disparity work in her favor. Overall, Swiatek saved eight of the 12 break points she faced while converting six of her 14 break chances.
Match moments: Aggressive play by Cirstea gave her the critical break for 6-5 in the opening set, and she stormed her way through a love hold to claim the one-set lead. However, Swiatek nudged herself ahead in the winner count during the second set, where she broke Cirstea twice to level the clash.
In the third set, Swiatek saved four break points to grit out a pivotal service hold for 2-2, but three consecutive breaks followed, which ended with Swiatek ahead 4-3. The Pole fended off thunderous returns by Cirstea to hold for 5-3, then slammed a forehand winner down the line to convert her first match point in the following game.
What a nerve wrecking stress inducing, and engrossing match!. Iga was suppose to play in the afternoon 2/3pm Australian time but ended up starting a few minutes before 7pm (which of course is 3 am my time).
The match lasted almost 2 and a half hours, which meant the 2nd of many all nighters for me during this tournament.
I was going to find an encore of it and watch it the next day, but the excitement of watching it live was too good to pass up.
I found myself screaming both internally and externally at 4am. There were so many swings of momentum it was hard to tell who would win right up to the end of the final set.
When Iga lost the first set after breaking back I had a lot of doubt she would be able to win, after all as she herself mentioned she doesn't have the greatest record in 3 setters at Grand Slam's when losing the opening set.
But Iga showed such determination and found a way to over power and break her opponents spirit right towards the end with some amazing rallies and shots. It was like her desire to win overrode her nerves and everything else.
It was quite a sight to see honestly. I don't often get to feel national pride in a sport, I love but the manner in which she won this match made it feel extra special. That feeling alone was more than worth staying up all night for.
It was such a composed and mature performance from someone who's still so young and relatively new to the tour.
Win or lose in the next match this performance will give her so much confidence going forward through the season and career wise.
I know her next opponent Kenepi, a long time veteran will not be easy in any respect, but the optimist in me is hoping this win will help propel her all the way to the final. Jazda Iga!
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