ROME -- World No.1 Iga Swiatek eased into the Round of 16 at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia after defeating Lesia Tsurenko 6-2, 6-0 in the third round on Sunday. The two-time defending champion will face No.21 Donna Vekic next.
Facing Tsurenko for the second time in their careers, Swiatek quickly wiped out any hopes of an upset by the World No.68. Coming off wins over Elina Svitolina and Bernarda Pera to make her first third-round appearance in Rome, Tsurenko broke Swiatek's serve immediately and led 2-0.
Swiatek responded emphatically. The two-time Roland Garros champion dialed in her game and found her margins to reel off 12 consecutive games to win her 27th match of the season and extend her 2023 record on clay to 11-1.
"After a pretty rusty start, I was able to break back pretty quickly, so I'm happy that I played solid game," Swiatek said. "Just have another experience playing on center court, and I'm happy that it wasn't raining."
Breaking down the numbers behind Swiatek's dominant first week in Rome:
13: Consecutive wins for two-time defending champion Swiatek in Rome. This is the longest win streak in Rome since Serena Williams posted 21 consecutive wins from 2012 to 2019.
6: Women to win 13 or more consecutive matches in Rome. Swiatek joins Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez, Gabriela Sabatini, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
4: Women to win 13 of their first 14 matches in Rome. Swiatek joins the list alongside Monica Seles, Gabriela Sabatini and Chris Evert.
2: Games lost by Swiatek en route to the Round of 16. She won her opener 6-0, 6-0 against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
12: Consecutive games won by Swiatek in both her matches this week in Rome. Against Tsurenko, Swiatek was down 2-0 in the first set before winning every remaining game.
2: Career meetings between Swiatek and Tsurenko. Their first came at Roland Garros last year. Swiatek won that match by the same scoreline, 6-2, 6-0, in just 54 minutes.
22: Winners truck by Swiatek against Tsurenko, while holding Tsurenko to just 2 winners on the day.
6: Breaks of serve by Swiatek against Tsurenko. She generated 10 break points in total.
1: Break point faced by Swiatek in the match. Tsurenko converted it in the first game of the first set.
10: Number of 6-0 sets Swiatek has posted in 2023, the most on tour.
0: Number of losses Swiatek has against her Round of 16 opponent. She is 3-0 against Donna Vekic, with their last match coming in the final of San Diego last fall. Vekic advanced with a comeback win over Liudmila Samsonova, winning 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-2.
Next up Vekic could be a little tricky and with an extra day to rest due to rain could be a lot more competitive than expected.
But hoping for another straight sets win.
Quarter-final is when the real challenges will start. Rybakina has beaten her twice this year. Hopefully Iga can turn the tables and show what she's made of on her best surface.
Than it's either Badosa/Muchova or Ostapenko in the semis.
Ostapenko she's 0-3 against won't lie and say her unpredictability makes me very nervous. Muchova's variety dropshots, and coming to the net as well.
But taking it one match at a time.
Jazda!.
No comments:
Post a Comment