Top seed Iga Swiatek powered through to the last 16 at the Madrid Open after cruising past Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 6-1 6-1 on Saturday.
It was a merciless performance from the world No.1, who has now won three of her four sets this week by a score of 6-1.
Swiatek has lost to a player ranked outside the top 20 just twice in 2024 – while on clay, she hasn’t lost to a player outside that bubble since 2020.
World No. 30 Cirstea has now lost all four matches against Swiatek, with the Pole’s precision and accuracy too much for the Romanian at Manolo Santana Stadium.
It was Cirstea’s first time in the third round here since 2017 and her return was short-lived. She was under relentless pressure from Swiatek. She totalled 14 break points in the match, breaking Cirstea’s serve five time.
Cirstea conversely had just two chances to break her serve, converting a single break point in the match.
Swiatek made an emphatic start, claiming three consecutive breaks to take a 5-0 lead, but couldn’t take the bagel set, failing on her serve. Nonetheless, she took the seventh game with ease to seal the first set.
Cirstea managed to tie the second set one game each but from there, Swiatek rampaged to another ruthless set to take the match.
“I’m happy that I could play in a solid way and I [have the rest of] the day off!” Swiatek said after finishing in one hour and 18 minutes.
Swiatek will face either former No.1 Victoria Azarenka or Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo on Monday for a spot in the quarterfinals.
She is eyeing her first Madrid title after failing at the final hurdle to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final.
Madrid remains the only big European clay title that Swiatek has yet to win. At 22, she is already a three-time champion at Roland Garros and a two-time champion at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, but Madrid has eluded her so far.