Iga Swiatek believes she was always going to have an advantage over Alex Eala on the clay courts at the Madrid Open, although she admits she initially struggled to find her rhythm at the start of their match.
Barely a month after Eala stunned five-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek in the quarter-final of the Miami Open, they had a rematch at the WTA 1000 tournament in the Spanish capital.
The Pole never got going on the hard courts in the United States as she went down 2-6, 5-7 against the 19-year-old, who also beat reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys and 2017 French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko before going down to Jessica Pegula in the semi-final.
Early on in Madrid it looked like Eala would pull off another famous upset win as she broke in the opening game of the match and went on to win the first set, but Swiatek eventually settled and claimed a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory.
The defending Madrid Open champion was always going to up her game on her favourite clay surface as she has an 88% win-loss record on the red dirt and Thursday’s win took her overall tally to 91–12.
“On clay I feel like I have a little bit more advantage sometimes in the situations, where Alex could take more advantage on faster hard courts,” Swiatek stated.
The world No 2 added: “It wasn’t easy to get into the rhythm and feel the right timing, so I’m happy that I was just patient.
“I felt like I was making too many errors from everything, so there wasn’t like one specific adjustment I had to make.
“For sure I wanted to keep my margins and play a little bit more safe, to just play more balls in because I was making some unforced errors that weren’t really necessary.”
With her run at the Miami Open, Eala surged into the top 80 of the WTA Rankings as she became the highest-ranked Filipina in WTA Tour history while she has already secured a direct entry into the French Open.
Many believe there is more to come from the teenager.
When asked about the hype surrounding Eala, the Pole replied: “I understand that there is hype about the young players, but you gotta be focused on yourself, and honestly, I did not realise… I kind of had other things to think about.”
Eala herself was pleased with the way she managed to compete against four-time French Open champion Swiatek, but she still has a lot to learn.
“I’m happy with the match, happy with how I competed,” she said. “Obviously up a set and a break is a good situation to be in, but you have to remember that there’s another person on the other side of the court. More so, a multiple Roland Garros champion. She did well also … Things to take back and to learn.
“What was different [between Madrid and Miami] was that, in my opinion, was that she executed better in the important moments, and she had a little higher level than me in specific moments of the match.”
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