Accomplished clay-courter Iga Swiatek worked her way out of danger on Tuesday, coming back after a mid-match slump to power into the Madrid Masters quarter-finals as electricity returned after Monday’s massive crisis.
The four-time Roland Garros winner was one of the first out of the blocks as organisers struggled to catch up the programme.
On Monday 22 matches were cancelled due to the power outage which struck most of the Iberian peninsula and blamed on vibration from winds which caused delicate solar and wind facilities to go out of sync.
Second seed Swiatek, the defending champion, is back in familiar territory in the last eight after earning a 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4 defeat of Diana Schnaider which took more than two and a half hours.
The Pole has reached her 17th straight clay quarter-final, a run dating back four years and a loss to Ash Barty here.
Swiatek swept the opening set in 22 minutes but needed all three to get the job done as she saved 11 of the 13 break points she faced.
“For sure she got her level up in the second set, but I think I also focused on different stuff than in the first,” the winner said.
“I wanted to come back to how I played in the first set when I started the third, and happy that I did that at the end.”
Swiatek’s next match will be a battle of current Grand Slam champions, with Australian Open winner Keys in place thanks to a win over Donna Vekic 6-2, 6-3.
Swiatek recounted her day on Monday when electricity suddenly stopped.
“In the hotel it wasn’t as bad as here. We took some takeaway food from here, and like going back wasn’t that bad because WTA helped us a little bit.
“We were pretty quick to react because, honestly, like five minutes later, like there were already like 200 players waiting for the car back, so I was lucky enough to react earlier with my team.
“Who who would have predicted that, you know? I’m sure no one.”
