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Fixture: (1) Iga Swiatek vs (16) Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Date: May 1, 2023.
Tournament: Mutua Madrid Open 2023.
Round: Fourth Round (Round of 16).
Venue: Caja Magica, Madrid, Spain.
Category: WTA 1000.
Surface: Outdoor clay.
Prize money: €7,652,174.
Live telecast: USA - Tennis Channel | UK - Amazon Prime Video.
Iga Swiatek vs Ekaterina Alexandrova preview
Top seed Iga Swiatek will square off against World No. 17 Ekaterina Alexandrova in the fourth round of the 2023 Madrid Open on Monday.
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A straight-sets win over Julia Grabher put Swiatek into the third round, where she was up against Bernarda Pera. The Pole held three break points in the second game of the first set, but her opponent managed to eke out a service hold.
Pera then broke Swiatek's serve in the next game to go 2-1 up. The World No. 1 responded by bagging the next four games to lead 5-2. She even held a set point on the American's serve after that, but was unable to close out the set. Nevertheless, she got the job done herself in the next game to secure the opener.
Swiatek was off to a fast start in the second set as she built up a 5-1 lead in no time. The deficit proved too much for Pera to recover from as the reigning French Open champion registered a 6-3, 6-2 win.
Meanwhile, Alexandrova ousted Alize Cornet to make it to the third round, where she faced Qinwen Zheng. The Russian fell behind 3-0 in the first set, but recovered by claiming the next three games to level the score.
Alexandrova secured a break of serve in the ninth game to go 5-4 up and then served for the set. However, she was unable to close it out as Zheng scooped the next three games to clinch the set.
Alexandrova broke Zheng's serve early on in the second set to go 3-1 up. She held on to the lead and managed to level the proceedings by taking the set. The final set was a bit one-sided, with the Russian reeling off five games in a row to complete a 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 comeback win.
Iga Swiatek vs Ekaterina Alexandrova head-to-head
The two have split their previous couple of meetings evenly to tie the head-to-head at 1-1. Swiatek won their most recent encounter at the 2022 Ostrava Open in three sets.
Iga Swiatek vs Ekaterina Alexandrova odds
(Odds are sourced from BetMGM)
Iga Swiatek vs Ekaterina Alexandrova prediction
Iga Swiatek cruised to another comfortable victory over Bernarda Pera in the previous round, marking her sixth consecutive win on clay this season. Since she remained undefeated on clay last year as well, her overall winning streak on the surface now stands at 22 matches.
During this period, Swiatek lost just three sets on the red dirt. Her dominance on the surface is at another level, which doesn't bode well for the rest of the tour.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, meanwhile, needed to dig deep to overcome Qinwen Zheng, but kept on raising her level as the match went on.
Swiatek and Alexandrova's previous meeting in Ostrava went the distance and was a closely contested battle. The Russian is armed with a decent serve and her shotmaking can prove to be tough to handle if she's completely focused.
However, Alexandrova does tend to lose the plot at times and nerves do get the better of her under pressure. Swiatek should be able to handle everything the Russian throws at her to emerge victorious.
Pick: Iga Swiatek to win in straight sets.
