Iga Swiatek learns projected path to Madrid title, clash with Elena Rybakina looming?

World No 1 Iga Swiatek has learned her path to winning her first Madrid Open title. Swiatek, 21, is the top-seeded player and has a first-round bye in Madrid. After a first-round bye, Swiatek will likely meet 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the Madrid second round.

Iga Swiatek reacts during her win against Bianca Andreescu during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., on Monday, March 13, 2023.
Bnp Paribas 2023 Iga Swiatek Vs Bianca Andreescu5493

In the Madrid third round, Swiatek is projected to meet 28th-seeded Bernarda Pera. In the round-of-16, Swiatek could meet No 23 seed Qinwen Zheng or 16th-seeded Ekaterina Alexandrova. In the quarterfinal, Swiatek is projected to meet world No 7 Elena Rybakina – the Pole has twice lost to the Kazakh so far this year.

The projected semifinal in the top half of the Madrid draw is between Swiatek and third-seeded Jessica Pegula. In the Madrid final, Swiatek is projected to play against world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka.

🇵🇱 Iga Świątek's potential path – WTA 1000 Madrid 🏆

R1: bye
R2: Raducanu/Q
R3: Maria/Pera
R4: Zheng/Alexandrova/Cornet
QF: Rybakina/Krejcikova/Andreescu
SF: Pegula/Azarenka/Kasatkina/Kudermetova/Potapova/Trevisan
F: Sabalenka/Jabeur/Garcia/Gauff/Sakkari/Kvitova/Samsonova/Haddad… pic.twitter.com/MlG9aBqylB

— Z kortu – informacje tenisowe | Tennis news (@z_kortu) April 23, 2023

Can Swiatek win her second title on clay this year?
Last week, Swiatek kicked off her clay season by winning the Stuttgart title.

In the Stuttgart final, Swiatek saw off Sabalenka 6-3 6-4. Swiatek seems to be more settled now to her position of being the best player in the world and she is hoping to continue her fine form in Madrid. “Last year was really, really tough, and I felt like this season may be tough because of what people are saying and expectations from the outside.

Also, I know how it is to like to win these tournaments in a row. So I just hope that I’m not gonna be the kind of person who is going to suddenly expect it in every tournament. So I’m happy that I managed to work through it.

Maybe I’m still gonna have situations like that, but that was the biggest thing that I had to go through at the beginning of the year. Now I feel like I can just use my experience a little bit more, more than like worry about stuff.