The Japan Times - 'Chilled' Swiatek scrapes into Madrid Open last eight

After a nationwide blackout cancelled the majority of play at the Caja Magica on Monday, power was restored at the venue on Tuesday morning, with matches commencing at midday.

In her first meeting with the Russian left-hander, Swiatek saved 11 of 13 break points en route to a two-hour 34-minute victory that sent her through to a last-eight showdown with Australian Open champion Madison Keys.

Asked about the power outage, the 23-year-old Swiatek admitted she enjoyed being off the grid for a few hours.

"Honestly, I liked yesterday, I think the whole world was more relaxed kind of, obviously the people who didn't lose because of this. I had time to rest," said Swiatek.

"It's good that in Madrid the sun is setting pretty late. As soon as it got down and it was dark, they put the energy back in our area.

"Honestly, I just chilled and used the time not thinking about what I should do. There was no signal so basically no one used their phones. It was nice, I liked it."

On the men's side, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov finally completed a 6-4, 7-6 (7/3) win over Britain's Jacob Fearnley, converting his third match point some 27 hours after his first.

The match was suspended on Monday with 15th seed Dimitrov leading 6-4, 5-4. When play resumed on Tuesday, both players held serve before Dimitrov edged the tie-break.

"That shows you how quickly anything can change, in life as well. From one point, you're serving for the match, from the other you're about to receive, and then the lights went out," said Dimitrov, who will face lucky loser Gabriel Diallo in the fourth round.

"I always take these type of situations as a learning curve.

"I remember when I was a kid it (blackouts) happened a lot where I grew up. I took it like this, I felt like I had the experience for it. Of course it’s not pleasant for anybody. It took us three hours to get back to the hotel yesterday. You just have to take it for what it is and move on.”

- De Minaur advances -

Earlier in the day, sixth-seeded Alex de Minaur defeated Canadian Denis Shapovalov 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) and awaits Stefanos Tsitsipas or Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 16.

Recording his 24th win of the season, the Australian has now tied Carlos Alcaraz for the most victories on tour in 2025.

"It was definitely something different," De Minaur said of the blackout.

"It gives you a new perspective on your every day, how in tune you are with technology nowadays. At least for me, I enjoyed having a little bit of time off the grid. So it was quite fine.

"I'm glad it seems everything has been sorted out. It could have been quite dangerous for a lot of people, so I'm glad we're kind of past it and we can move on."

American 11th seed Tommy Paul overcame Russian 24th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.

Frances Tiafoe, the 16th seed, beat Alexandre Muller 6-3, 6-3 to book a fourth-round meeting with Novak Djokovic's conqueror, Matteo Arnaldi.

Both Tiafoe and Muller were among those stuck at the Caja Magica for hours waiting for cars to leave the stadium.

With no food available anywhere, Muller had Pringles and orange juice for dinner, while Tiafoe settled for chocolate and water.

"It's one of those things man, super unprecedented. Just kind of hang around, chilling. Just kind of trying to find the laughs about it," said Tiafoe.

"Obviously it's one of those things, everybody in the same situation. Just had to realise how it normalises everything, everyone. Some things are so much bigger than you and kind of just take it for what it is."

Y.Kato--JT