World No. 1 Iga Swiatek stepped up her clay preparations as she overcame a stubborn Xiyu Wang to record a 6-1 6-4 victory at the Madrid Open on Thursday.
Swiatek dominated the early proceedings to claim the first set in routine fashion. However, she was made to work in the second set as Wang claimed three consecutive games, threatening taking the match to a third set. Swiatek, however, settled and navigated the remainder of the match superbly to progress to the final 32 in Madrid.
Swiatek, who is looking to claim her third consecutive French Open title at the culmination of the clay season, set up a battle with No. 30 Sorana Cirstea.
The top-seed edged the first game to break Wang’s serve and soon raced into a commanding 4-0 lead. Wang held her serve at 4-1 but succumbed to Swiatek’s dominance twice more as the world No. 1 made light work of her opponent.
Wang looked void of ideas as the four-time Grand Slam winner displayed consistent dominance in the first set. Swiatek rattled 13 winners to her opponent’s two with the opening set wrapped up within 31 minutes.
Swiatek showed no signs of faltering as she catapulted into a 3-0 lead in the second set, but was rocked slightly as Wang grabbed a set back. The top-seed held her serve at 4-1 before Wang staged an impressive comeback to not only hold her serve but also break Swiatek’s for the first time in the match.
Wang’s rally continued into her service game as she drew level at 4-4. However, the world No. 52 could not maintain the pressure and could not break Swiatek to take a lead. The world No. 1 went on to wrap up proceedings in her first of three match points to set up her clash with Cirstea.
Swiatek dispatched a resounding 20 winners to her opponent’s five but was guilty of hitting 22 unforced errors – constituting over half of Wang’s points won.
Swiatek has already picked up Indian Wells and Doha trophies so far this year, but will be looking to build upon her disappointing Grand Slam showing in Australia, which saw her crash out at the hands of Linda Noskova in the final 32 of the hard court major.