Polish world number 1 Iga Swiatek qualified for the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid on Thursday by beating Chinese Wang Xinyu in straight sets (6-1, 6-4) in 1 hour and 16 minutes. Finalist last year in the Spanish capital, where she was beaten by the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek will face for a place in the round of 16 the Romanian Sorana Cirstea (30th), who beat the Philippine Alexandra Eala (170th) 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-4.
Swiatek, who was entering the fray – she was exempt from the first round due to her ranking – clearly dominated the first set by taking her opponent’s service three times, the last in the seventh and final game. But while she led 4-1 in the second set and we seemed to be heading towards an easy victory for the Pole, Wang managed to get back to 4-4, before giving in 6-4 on a double fault. on the first of two match points in favor of the world number 1.