A day after a nationwide power outage caused fourth-round action at the Mutua Madrid Open to be suspended, Iga Swiatek got normal service back on track to open Tuesday’s rescheduled play — but only after surviving a serious scare.
The No. 2 seed continued her title defense with a 6-0, 6-7(3), 6-4 defeat of No. 13 seed Diana Shnaider in 2 hours and 34 minutes. After enjoying a 22-minute first-set whitewash, Swiatek was forced to battle hard, saving 11 out of 13 break points over the course of the contest.
Swiatek has yet to lose before the quarterfinals in seven tournaments this year — but she has also not gone past the semifinals since Roland Garros last year. In the last eight, she will face Australian Open champion and No. 5 seed Madison Keys, who defeated No. 19 seed Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3. It will be their first meeting since Swiatek fell to the American from match point up in the Australian Open semifinals; she still holds a 4-2 head-to-head lead, including 3-0 on clay (all in straight sets).
Four-time Roland Garros champion Swiatek has now reached 17 consecutive clay-court quarterfinals, a streak that dates back to her third-round loss to Ashleigh Barty at Madrid 2021. It is the longest such streak since Martina Hingis made 19 clay-court quarterfinals in a row between Hilton Head 1997 and Hamburg 2002.
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