Madrid (AFP)
World No. 1 Ashleigh Barty won the duel between the last two Roland Garros winners 7-5, 6-4 at the expense of Polish Iga Swiatek (17th) to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid tournament on Monday.
Barty, strong in his title in Stuttgart (Germany) last Sunday, will face Petra Kvitova (12th) for a place in the last four.
If the Australian, winner of the Parisian Grand Slam in 2019, had preferred to stay in her country as a precaution when the circuit resumed its rights last summer at the time of the pandemic, she is taking full advantage of her decision to travel again: since leaving her country in March, she has also established herself in Miami.
Before this Madrid week, Swiatek had not played on clay since her coronation in Paris last fall and, including her first two matches of the tournament, she remained on 18 sets won consecutively on the surface.
The young Polish girl also got off to the best start, leading 3-0. But Barty gradually gained in efficiency and precision, both on serve and with his formidable slice backhand to reverse the trend in the first set. Then to seize one last time the service of his opponent at the start of the second round, and win in just over an hour and a half.
"We both needed some time to adapt during the first half hour," because the two players were facing each other for the first time, explains the world No. 1.
"It took me a while to get used to Iga's hitting. I had to adjust my game plan in real time. After that it became much clearer and I was able to control more. the match as I wanted. "
"I really enjoyed this match, the challenge (it was), Barty continues. Her game is exceptional, really impressive, I love to test myself and find out how to put the puzzle together for me."
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