Italian Open: Iga Swiatek remains on course to defend title in Rome as Novak Djokovic reaches men’s quarter-finals | Tennis News

The world No 1 beat Victoria Azarenka to extend her winning streak to 25 matches; in the men’s draw Novak Djokovic overcame Stan Wawrinka 6-2 6-2 to also reach the quarter-finals

Iga Swiatek’s victory extends her winning streak to 25 matches

Defending champion Iga Swiatek recovered from a poor start to defeat Victoria Azarenka and reach the quarter-finals of the Italian Open in Rome.

The world No 1, who is bidding for a fifth consecutive title, began the match with a slew of errors and trailed 3-0 but battled back to claim a 6-4 6-1 victory.

The first set alone took 79 minutes, with Swiatek saving eight of the 11 break points she faced, but the Pole found her form in the second to move through to an intriguing clash with Bianca Andreescu.

“For sure I didn’t start well, and everybody could see that. I’m really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set,” Swiatek said.

“Also how different the second set looked to the first one because I could really reset and really change the way I played. That’s the most positive thing for me.”

Swiatek’s testing victory extends her winning streak to 25 matches, which is the the longest run since Serena Williams produced 27 straight wins in 2015.

She will now face the 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu, who missed the start of the season to prioritise her mental health.

Andreescu defeated Croatian Petra Martic 6-4 6-4, while third seed Aryna Sabalenka impressed in a 6-1 6-4 win over Madrid finalist Jessica Pegula.

Djokovic to meet Auger-Aliassime in quarters

In the men’s event, world No 1 Novak Djokovic claimed a 20th win from 26 meetings against Stan Wawrinka to reach the quarter-finals.

Wawrinka secured his first victories for more than a year following foot surgery to reach the third round, but looked weary from the start and was unable to trouble Djokovic, who eased to a 6-2 6-2 victory.

“It’s great to see Stan back,” Djokovic said in his on-court interview. “He won two tough matches and you could see he’s not physically where he wants to be.

“But, nevertheless, he’s Stan Wawrinka, he can hurt you if you give him time and I managed to do well I think. From the beginning I really moved him around the court and held my serve pretty comfortably, except that loss of serve in the second set.”

In the last eight Djokovic will contest a first match against eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who saw off Marcos Giron 6-3 6-2.

Second seed Alexander Zverev defeated Alex De Minaur 6-3 7-6 (7-5) while Stefanos Tsitsipas fought back from a set down to see off Karen Khachanov 4-6 6-0 6-3 and will next meet Jannik Sinner.