MDP Live - Poland's Iga Swiatek was cornered into three sets for the first time at the 2022 Australian Open, but he overcame it.
The seventh seed had to drop the first set against Romania's Sorana Cirstea before picking up a 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 victory that sent her into the Australian Open quarter-finals for the first time in her career.
The 2020 French Open champion reached the quarter-finals of the first Grand Slam outside of the French Open where he reached the quarter-finals of the Grand Slam in 2021. However, he had to survive the onslaught of the world number 38 before finally picking up victory after 2 hours 28 minutes.
"For sure, he put a lot of pressure on me," admitted Swiatek. “I had to overcome some of the doubts I had. I did pretty well, because I don't have any positive stats about coming back after losing the first set. So, that's something I'm still working on.”
“This kind of match will give me a lot of confidence in the future, because coming back after losing the first set against a player who is constantly moving forward, it was quite tough, and I did it. I felt I could cope with these different scenarios on the pitch and in the end it was quite positive."
Last season, the Polish national was the only woman to reach the fourth round or better at all four Grand Slams. Even though he was cornered by Cirstea, he is now 29-2 against a player outside the top 30 he has faced at a Grand Slam.
Cirstea is one set from the quarter-finals of a second Grand Slam of her career and for the first time in 13 seasons, when she advanced to that stage at the 2009 French Open. However, she failed to bag a 16th win over a top 10 player against Swiatek.
Betting a place in the semifinals of the Australian Open, Swiatek will face Estonian Kaia Kanepi who surprisingly beat second seed Aryna Sabalenka 5-7, 6-2, 7-6.
The win put Kanepi in the quarter-finals of a seventh Grand Slam of his career, but for the first time at the Australian Open. This means that at the age of 36, Kanepi has now managed to reach the quarter-finals of every Grand Slam.
