By Sudipto Ganguly
MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Seventh seed Iga Swiatek rallied from a set down to edge Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 5-7 6-3 6-3 in a baseline slugfest on Monday to book a spot in the last eight at the Australian Open.
The 20-year-old Swiatek, who won the French Open title in 2020, came into her first meeting against the 38th-ranked Cirstea in dominant form having not lost a set at the Melbourne Park Grand Slam in her three matches last week.
But Cirstea, 31, put the Pole under pressure for the first time in the tournament with some heavy hitting from the back of the court and Swiatek had to dig deep to find her way back into the contest and reach her first Australian Open quarter-final.
Swiatek sealed the contest on the first match point with her 29th winner and will meet Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka or Kaia Kanepi of Estonia for a place in the last four.
“For me, a week without crying is not a week. I cry when I lose; I cry when I win,” an emotional Swiatek said on court.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly; Editing By Ken Ferris)
