Madrid Open: Swiatek moves into round of 16 with straight-sets win over Pera

Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, beat American Bernarda Pera, the No 28 seed, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the round of 16 at the Madrid Open at the Caja Magica on Sunday.

The two had only played once before – in qualifying for Birmingham back in 2019, when Swiatek saved three match points to win.

Four years on, however, Swiatek is a dominant world No 1, and now holds the highest-ever winning percentage at WTA 1000 clay-court events, 88.2 per cent, surpassing Serena Williams’ 88 per cent.

Swiatek will face the winner of the match between Chinese Qinwen Zheng, the No 22 seed, and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 16 seed, next.

In the previous round of the Madrid tournament, the 21-year-old Pole won against Austrian lucky loser Julia Grabher (6-3, 6-2).

Pera, ranked No 32, won against German Tatjana Maria (6-1, 6-3) in the previous round of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 7.652.174, most recent results first):

• Qinwen Zheng vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova : Sunday in Madrid
• Barbora Krejcikova vs. Xiyu Wang: Sunday in Madrid
• Petra Martic vs. Anna Kalinskaya : Sunday in Madrid
• Jessica Pegula (3) beat Marie Bouzkova (29): 6-4, 7-6 (2)
• Veronika Kudermetova (12) beat Anastasia Potapova (21): 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-3
• Daria Kasatkina (8) beat Lesia Tsurenko: 6-4, 6-2
• Martina Trevisan (18) beat Alycia Parks: 7-6 (3), 6-1
• Maria Sakkari (9) beat Rebeka Masarova (WC): 3-6, 6-3, 6-3
• Mayar Sherif beat Caroline Garcia (5): 7-6 (2), 6-3
• Paula Badosa (26) beat Coco Gauff (6): 6-3, 6-0
• Mirra Andreeva (WC) beat Magda Linette (17): 6-3, 6-3
• Liudmila Samsonova (14) beat Jelena Ostapenko (19): 6-2, 6-0
• Aryna Sabalenka (2) beat Camila Osorio (WC): 6-4, 7-5
• Elise Mertens (24) beat Jule Niemeier: 6-3, 6-4
• Irina-Camelia Begu (31) beat Shelby Rogers (33): 7-5, 6-2

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