‘Chilled’ Swiatek scrapes into Madrid Open last eight

MADRID: Defending champion Iga Swiatek reached her fifth WTA 1000 quarter-final of the season with a 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 victory over 13th-seeded Diana Shnaider at the Madrid Open on Tuesday.

After a nationwide blackout cancelled the majority of play at the Caja Magica on Monday, power was restored at the venue on Tuesday morning, with matches commencing at 12pm.

In her first meeting with the Russian left-hander, Swiatek saved 11 of 13 break points en route to a two-hour 34-minute victory that sent her through to a last-eight showdown with Madison Keys or Donna Vekic.

Asked about the power outage, the 23-year-old Swiatek admitted she enjoyed being off the grid for a few hours on Tuesday.

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“Honestly, I liked yesterday, I think the whole world was more relaxed kind of, obviously the people who didn’t lose because of this. I had time to rest,” said Swiatek.

“It’s good that in Madrid the sun is setting pretty late. As soon as it got down and it was dark, they put the energy back in our area.

“Honestly, I just chilled and used the time not thinking about what I should do. There was no signal so basically no one used their phones. It was nice, I liked it.”

On the men’s side, sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) and awaits Stefanos Tsitsipas or Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16.

Recording his 24th win of the season, the Australian has now tied Carlos Alcaraz for the most victories on tour in 2025.

“It was definitely something different,” De Minaur said of the blackout.

“It gives you a new perspective on your every day, how in tune you are with technology nowadays. At least for me, I enjoyed having a little bit of time off the grid. So it was quite fine.

“I’m glad it seems everything has been sorted out. It could have been quite dangerous for a lot of people, so I’m glad we’re kind of past it and we can move on.”

American 11th seed Tommy Paul overcame Russian 24th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Frances Tiafoe, the 16th seed, beat Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-3 to book a fourth-round meeting with Novak Djokovic’s conqueror, Matteo Arnaldi.