Iga Swiatek ready to dominate on clay again

ROME – Iga Swiatek is looking like the “Queen of Clay” again and she is relishing the chance to take on Jessica Pegula next on May 13.

The 24-year-old Polish star will face her American opponent in the quarter-finals of the Italian Open after making short work of Naomi Osaka, beating the Japanese 6-2, 6-1 on May 11 and looking more like the player who won four French Open titles.

“Jess is always a tough opponent. She is already super experienced and always calm, playing in a solid way,” Swiatek said of her next clash.

“I will need to be ready and also watch her games on the clay court, because I think it’s been a while since we played on clay.”

Swiatek has not won a clay-court tournament since claiming her most recent title at Roland Garros in 2024, with personal problems a factor in her poor performances on her favoured surface.

But she looked like back to her old self on May 11, giving Osaka nowhere to turn as she scurried around the court and finished the match in just one hour and 22 minutes.

Osaka, a four-time Grand Slam winner, is yet to get beyond the last 16 of any tournament in 2026 after also being knocked out of Indian Wells and the Madrid Open at the same stage by Aryna Sabalenka.

“There’s something I could have done more, but I’m not really sure what,” Osaka, 28, said in an interview with the WTA Tour.

“Obviously this match wasn’t ideal for me, but I’ll just take a couple days off to process it and figure out what I can do better next time.”

Meanwhile, Coco Gauff survived a scare against Iva Jovic, coming back from a match point to win 5-7, 7-5, 6-2 and also reaching the quarter-finals.

American star Gauff, who is the reigning French Open champion and reached the final in Rome in 2025, won a draining match on a windy centre court which took the best part of three hours.

She was so annoyed with herself, shortly after saving a match point against the serve at 5-4 down in the second set, that she smacked herself in the head. But she recovered to eventually see off her compatriot and set up a clash with Mirra Andreeva in the last eight.

“I think I’m just proud. I’ve played really good tennis,” Gauff, 22, said. “The conditions today weren’t easy. We had wind. We had airplanes. We had phones ringing. Everything was going on. But I’m really happy. Thanks to my team for helping me. That pep talk helped me mentally.”

In the men’s tournament, second seed Alexander Zverev suffered an astonishing upset by home hope Luciano Darderi, who prevailed in a 1-6, 7-6 (12-10), 6-0 comeback victory.

The world No. 20 saved four match points in the dramatic second-set tiebreak before dominating the deciding set to seal the win, booking a quarter-final tie against 19-year-old Spaniard Rafael Jodar, who beat Learner Tien 6-1, 6-4.

World No. 1 Jannik Sinner cruised into the last eight with a 6-2, 6-3 triumph over fellow Italian Andrea Pellegrino and extended his Masters 1000 winning streak to 31 matches, equalling Novak Djokovic’s all-time record.

He will next face either Andrey Rublev or Nikoloz Basilashvili, whose clash ended after press time. AFP