Iga Swiatek, the current top-ranked player, continues her remarkable journey toward a rare Madrid-Rome double, triumphing over Angelique Kerber to advance to the quarterfinals of the Italian Open on Monday.
This victory marks Swiatek's ninth consecutive win, setting the stage for a thrilling clash against Madison Keys. Keys secured her spot in the quarterfinals with a dominant 6-2, 6-1 win over Sorana Cirstea, albeit amid interruptions from an environmental protest.
In a tense opener, Swiatek had to overcome eight set points before clinching it, but she displayed remarkable composure in the second set, securing a 7-5, 6-3 victory with a powerful shot that Kerber couldn't return, ending the match on her first match point.
Swiatek's upcoming match against Keys sets the stage for a rematch of last week's Madrid Open semifinal, which Swiatek won. A win in Rome would make Swiatek the first woman since Serena Williams in 2013 to achieve the "dirt double," a remarkable feat in the world of tennis.
"For sure, playing against Maddie is not easy,” Swiatek said. "The score was pretty one-sided in Madrid. It’s kind of easy for your mind to just drift off sometimes. The most important thing is to stay focused and really disciplined.”
Keys’ match in Rome was temporarily suspended at 3-1 in the second set after two protesters jumped onto the court and threw confetti, while others from the environmentalist group glued themselves to the stands.
"As soon as I saw them come over the barrier, my first thought was like, ‘Should I go tackle one of them?’ But I stopped myself,” Keys said. "And then the chair (umpire) started yelling at me to go sit down.
"Unfortunately, it’s starting to become a little bit of a common thing that’s happening.”
The players returned to the locker room, and the protestors did not resist when security intervened before police and firefighters also arrived to handle the situation.
Two more Americans were through to the quarterfinals after third-seeded Coco Gauff rallied to beat Paula Badosa 5-7, 6-4, 6-1, and Danielle Collins eased past Irina-Camelia Begu 6-0, 6-3.
Second-seeded Aryna Sabalenka fought back from a set down and had to fend off three match points – after getting treatment for a back problem – before beating Elina Svitolina 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 (7) in a match that finished well after midnight local time.
Two-time champion Svitolina looked certain to secure the victory on her first match point as she had what should have been the simplest of volleys over the net with Sabalenka seemingly stranded right at the other side of the court. But Svitolina hit the ball into the net.
Victoria Azarenka, Jelena Ostapenko, and Qinwen Zheng also advanced.
In the men’s tournament, defending champion Daniil Medvedev survived a scare before prevailing against Serbian qualifier Hamad Medjedovic 7-6 (5), 2-6, 7-5 in their third-round match.
Next Gen titleholder Medjedovic was given a standing ovation as he left the court after some courageous tennis, but he will be regretting not making the most of a set point in the opening set.
The second-seeded Medvedev will face Tommy Paul in the round of 16 after the American beat Dominik Koepfer 6-4, 6-3.
Both of the Madrid finalists were eliminated.
Last week’s winner Andrey Rublev, who was seeded fourth in Rome, was upset by French qualifier Alexandre Muller 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 for his first win over a top-10 player.
Madrid runner-up Felix Auger-Aliassime was beaten by ninth-seeded Alex de Minaur 6-7 (2), 6-4, 6-4.
Also advancing were Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Sebastian Baez, and Nicolas Jarry.
