Iga Swiatek extends dominance over Sorana Cirstea to reach last 16 in Madrid

Different conditions, same result: A closed roof on Manolo Santana Stadium did little to disrupt Iga Swiatek's path to the fourth round of the Mutua Madrid Open. The world No. 1 needed just 78 minutes to defeat Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the last 16.

Swiatek hasn't lost to a player ranked outside the Top 20 at a WTA 1000 event in four years, and that trend continued against world No. 30 Cirstea, the No. 27 seed. The Romanian had two chances to win the match's first game, but was broken. That set the tone for a match in which Swiatek, last year's finalist in Madrid, won five straight games in each set, though she failed in her attempt to serve out a bagel in the opener.

In all, Swiatek created 14 break point chances against Cirstea's serve, and converted five. Cirstea had just two break points on Swiatek's serve, both in the first set.

Swiatek is now 26-4 on the year, and will face Spain's Sara Sorribes Tormo for a spot in the quarterfinals. The unseeded home favorite outlasted two-time finalist Victoria Azarenka in two hours and 50 minutes, 7-6(0), 6-3.

"For sure the weather is different than last year, but still, I know how to play in these kind of conditions," Swiatek said. "I felt pretty comfortable. The only thing is that I had to wake up in the morning really early, but I'm really happy I could play in a solid way. Now, I have the whole day off."

Later, Swiatek compared the match conditions to her victorious run at Roland Garros in 2020, which was held in October.

"I knew that I can play well in these conditions," Swiatek said. "The only thing I was kind of thinking about was wind, because sometimes you can feel it here on this court. But we still weren't sure actually before the match if the roof was going to be opened or closed. They only told us, like, 15 minutes before, and at that point they were sure, but before they were kind of looking for how the forecast looks like. I was ready for both scenarios."

The win extended Swiatek's unbeaten head-to-head against Cirstea to 4-0. Since losing the first set she played against the Romanian at the 2022 Australian Open, she's won six straight, and hasn't lost more than three games in any of those sets. This year, both of their matches have gone 6-1, 6-1.