Much has changed in the four years since Iga Swiatek and Bernarda Pera met in the final round of qualifying on the grass courts of the Edgbaston Priory Club. Back then, the 18-year-old Swiatek was an emerging force on grass, having won the girls’ singles at Wimbledon the previous summer, while Pera was six years older and substantially more experienced. Swiatek, the top seed in the qualifying competition, came through in three sets, although only after saving three match points.
As things turned out, Swiatek is not quite the grass-court specialist her early results might have suggested. But the two-time French Open champion is pretty useful on clay, a reality with which Pera became acquainted at first hand as Swiatek quashed any ambitions her opponent harboured of drawing her into another dogfight with an emphatic 6-3, 6-2 win at the Madrid Open.
It was a focused, disciplined performance from the world No 1, who was no more dismayed by the challenge of facing a dangerous, free-swinging southpaw than she has been by the altitude at the only big clay-court event she has yet to win.
“I wouldn’t say it was easy, every match is tricky here,” said Swiatek after reaching the last 16, just as she did on her only previous appearance at the Caja Mágica.
“I’m pretty happy that I’ve played a little bit better every day, and I’m happy that I’m getting my rhythm. But playing a lefty is never easy. I think Bernarda really used it.”
Use it Pera did, troubling Swiatek in the early stages with her swinging left-handed serves and weighty forehands. The 28-year-old, who left her native Croatia at the age of 16 to represent the US, is an accomplished performer on the red dirt, as she demonstrated over a memorable fortnight last summer when she won the first tour-level singles titles of her career in Budapest and Hamburg. Capable of playing the brand of bold, first-strike tennis that has proved most effective against Swiatek, Pera threw down the gauntlet in the early stages, recovering from 0-40 to hold her opening service game before breaking to love behind some crushing returns.
They were fine moments for the American, but these days it takes more than just fine moments to defeat Swiatek. The Pole immediately replied in kind, peppering Pera’s backhand to claim a love break, and from there she never looked back. Indeed, such was Swiatek’s mastery that she dropped only seven more points on serve – a reminder of how much the bite and penetration of her delivery has improved since she was was beaten two years ago on the same court by Ashleigh Barty, who subjected her second serve to the sternest of examinations.
With this result, Swiatek racked up a half-century of clay-court wins to overtake Serena Williams as the player with the highest winning percentage in clay-court events at this level. Given her consistency and quality of movement on the surface, not to mention her ability to attack or defend with equal dexterity, both statistics are likely to improve.
“Having both things combined and being able to do both, like Rafa [Nadal] or Novak [Djokovic] – they can play great in defence and kind of be patient, and also they can attack well – I think this should be the goal of every tennis player,” said Swiatek, who will face Ekaterina Alexandrova after the Russian 16th seed saw off China’s Qinwen Zheng 5-7, 6-4, 6-2. “That’s why we are working on both.”
Jessica Pegula also advanced in straight sets, although the only straightforward thing about her win over the Czech Republic’s Marie Bouzkova was the 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) scoreline. On a day when little came easily to the third seed, Pegula went up 5-2 only to find herself unexpectedly detained as Bouzkova, who had won three of their four previous meetings, fought off five set points. At the sixth time of asking, the American finally seized the initiative with a crunching forehand winner before establishing a commanding 2-0, 40-0 lead in the second set.
Again, though, Bouzkova battled her way back into contention, capitalising on some overcautious play from Pegula to fend off two match points in the 10th game, before forcing a tiebreak.
“Marie is always tough, it’s a tough match-up for me,” said Pegula, who will face Italy’s Martina Trevisan, the 16th seed, for a place in the quarter-finals.
“I don’t really love to play her, she always makes it very difficult, and we’ve had a lot of close matches, so I’m glad I won.”
In the men’s draw, Carlos Alcaraz and Alexander Zverev made relatively comfortable progress after being taken the distance in their opening matches.
Alcaraz, who struggled to find his range against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori on Friday, delivered a vastly improved performance to see off Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov. After racing through the first set, the Spanish defending champion recovered from a break down in the second to seal a 6-2, 7-5 win. Zverev, who needed over three hours to subdue Roberto Carballes Baena in his opener, defeated Hugo Grenier of France 6-1, 6-0.