Iga Swiatek arrived in Stuttgart with a 103-15 career record and 10 titles on clay, fueling anticipation for the former World No. 1’s return to the surface Wednesday against local favorite Laura Siegemund.
After beating Siegemund 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour and 30 minutes, she made it a successful start to both clay season and her partnership with new coach Francisco Roig, improving to 104-15 on the surface and to 1-0 with Roig to open their collaboration on solid footing.
“Even though I’m an experienced player, it’s still a new thing for me,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I haven’t changed coaches often in my career, but I feel it’s always exciting because you get to know different points of view from a person that is supposed to be with you every day on the court.
“So I think you need to be open-minded and try to soak in this new approach. And I feel like with Francisco, we have a similar view in terms of how I should play. The other thing is actually doing it on court. So this will, I think, take a little bit more time, but the idea is there, the attitude and work are there, so I’m happy to start this process.”
With the win, the two-time Stuttgart champion is through to her fourth quarterfinal of the season, where she will face the winner of the second-round match between No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva and Alycia Parks. She’ll be looking to reach her first semifinal of the year and snap a streak of four straight quarterfinal losses dating back to Wuhan last fall.
For now, she can take positives from an opening-match win at what has long been one of her most successful tournaments.
“I’m really happy to be back on clay, especially here,” Swiatek said. “I love playing here, so it’s really nice to be back. It wasn’t the easiest match because Laura wants to change the rhythm a lot, so it wasn’t like the practices. It was the opposite, with a lot of drop shots and slices that you need to adjust to. So I’m happy that I did well and kept focused on my tasks.”
That big-picture approach guided Swiatek through a match that was, at times, less straightforward than the scoreline suggests.
The World No. 4 started fast, holding to love and then firing a backhand winner to break for 2-0. She won 12 of the first 15 points to build a 3-0 lead.
Siegemund briefly flipped the set with a love hold and a break to get back on serve at 3-2. But Swiatek, who needed three break points to secure her first break, followed the same recipe in the next game, converting her third chance with a forehand winner to regain control at 4-2.
It was the first of three straight games she won, closing the set with another backhand winner to secure a third break.
After five consecutive holds to open the second set, Swiatek again struck first, breaking to love for a 4-2 lead. Siegemund again responded with a break of her own for 4-3, but the German’s rally was short-lived as Swiatek won the final two games to finish the match.
It was far from a perfect performance -- seven double faults, 27 unforced errors and landing just over 50% of her first serves -- but there were positives as well. She broke Siegemund five times, hit 22 winners and won 78% of her first-serve points.
She’ll look to carry those positives into her next match against either Andreeva or Parks. She is 1-2 against Andreeva, having lost both meetings last year in Dubai and Indian Wells, and has yet to face Parks.
Not a bad start from Iga considering the longer break, switching coaches and changing the motion on her serve. As well as her first match on the clay.
Very much a work in progress.
I don't put much stock on the indoor clay tournaments, because the conditions of both Madrid (with it's altitude) and Rome both being out door are completely different.
But making it past the quarterfinal here maybe even a final would be a great confidence booster for Iga regardless.
Won't be easy with Andreeva and possibly Rybakina in the semis, but what better way to see where you are with your progress then testing yourself against those 2.
Madrid and especially Rome will be the real litmus test before Roland Garros.
Step by step, it's just really great seeing Iga back on clay again and looking happy..
Jazda!
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