Madrid Open: Svitolina continues winning run against Sakkari to reach last eight

Elina Svitolina, the No 17 seed, defeated Greek Maria Sakkari 6-3, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals of the Madrid Open at the Caja Mágica.

It is the Ukrainian’s eighth straight win having won the Open de Rouen title last week, and another straight-set win extend her run of sets won to 16.

Svitolina simply had too much fight for Sakkari today, outmanoeuvring her opponent at the most important junctures to rack up five breaks of serve to the Greek’s two.

It means that the Ukrainian’s fine form on clay continues as she progresses to the quarter-finals of a 1000-level event for the second time this season, having also reached the last eight in Miami.

Svitolina, ranked No 17, will play the winner of the match between Japanese Moyuka Uchijima and Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova, the No 21 seed, next.

Earlier in the tournament, the Ukrainian won against Sonay Kartal (6-3, 6-1) and Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 10 seed (6-3, 6-4).

Sakkari, ranked No 82, beat Chinese Xinyu Wang (6-4, 7-6 (7)), Pole Magda Linette, the No 29 seed (7-6 (5), 6-3) and Italian Jasmine Paolini, the No 6 seed (6-2, 6-1) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other last-16 results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 7.854.000, most recent results first):

• Marta Kostyuk vs. Anastasia Potapova
• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Peyton Stearns
• Moyuka Uchijima vs. Ekaterina Alexandrova: tuesday
• Madison Keys (5) beat Donna Vekic (19): 6-2, 6-3
• Iga Swiatek (2) beat Diana Shnaider (13): 6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4
• Coco Gauff (4) beat Belinda Bencic: 6-4, 6-2
• Mirra Andreeva (7) beat Yuliia Starodubtseva (Q): 6-1, 6-4