It was a very difficult match for Iga Świątek, but finally, after 150 minutes, the Pole defeated Sorana Cirstea 5:7, 6:3, 6:3 and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open! The Pole has never gone this far in this tournament before.
At the beginning of the tournament, Iga Świątek easily defeated Harriet Dart (123rd WTA) from Great Britain, winning 6:3, 6:0. In the second round, she defeated Rebecca Peterson (82nd WTA) of Sweden 6:2, 6:2, while in the third round she won against Russian Daria Kasatkina (6:2, 6:3).
The beginning of the match went badly for Iga. She has already been broken in the first game, the second one also fell to the Romanian. Iga’s rival did not make many mistakes and constantly put pressure on Iga with her good plays. Świątek, on the other hand, was making a lot of mistakes. Iga was close to losing already at 0:3, but she defended the breakpoint and then won the next two balls, and thus the first game. In the next game, she already led 40:0, but could not get a breakthrough. Cirstea eventually began to make mistakes, however. In the eighth game, she committed two double faults and Świątek took advantage, breaking her rival. She then won her game and unfortunately, that was the last positive chord of that game. The Romanian took away Iga’s serve for the second time in the 11th game. She made no more mistakes with her serve and won the first set 7:5
The second set started similarly to the first one, only this time it was Iga who won the first two games. In the third she served, but Cirstea quickly recovered from the breakpoint and soon it was 2:2. Iga kept cool, and even though she got irritated after a single missed play, she kept fighting. And she recorded an outstanding run of three consecutive game wins! Eventually, the Pole won the second set 6:3 and the third set was decided.
A very exciting fourth game, in which Iga served. Both players played this game for over 10 minutes. Swiątek defended several break-points and had several opportunities to end the game herself. Eventually, she succeeded. Cirstea, losing points in the next game, seemed to be very nervous and it ended with a breakthrough obtained by Świątek. Cirstea recovered quickly but lost on her serve again soon after. Iga made no mistake with her serve and in the last game, she broke her rival once again to win the third set 6:3!