Swiatek moves past Kerber to reach round of 16 in Rome

Iga Swiatek fended off Angelique Kerber 7-5, 6-3 to reach the Round of 16 at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday.

The 22-year-old pole came out on top in a matchup between two women who have reached the top spot of the WTA rankings.

“For sure, wasn’t easy,” Swiatek said after her latest win. “I’m happy in important moments at the end of both sets I was ready to break. I got my focus up a little bit. At the end that’s what made the difference, so I’m happy.”

Swiatek, the current World No.1, needed all of her mettle to oust Germany’s Kerber, who held the No.1 ranking for 34 weeks during her career. Kerber returned to tour this January following a yearlong maternity leave.

Swiatek, who won Rome in 2021 and 2022, prevailed over Kerber in 1 hour and 38 minutes in front of a pack crowd.

Now into her 103rd week ranked No.1, Swiatek improved to 3-0 against Kerber, including a victory at the German’s comeback event at the United Cup at the start of the season. Swiatek also extends her lead as this year’s current match-win leader with 33 victories on tour (Elena Rybakina is in second place with 30).

Swiatek will now face No.18 seed Madison Keys of the United States in the quarterfinals. Keys defeated No.28 seed Sorana Cirstea 6-2, 6-1 earlier on Monday, which was Keys’ first win in three career meetings with Cirstea.