World No. 2 Iga Swiatek survived what she called “one of the weirdest matches” of her career, losing the first six games before staging a comeback to defeat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the Madrid Open quarter-finals. The victory keeps Swiatek`s title defense hopes alive.
Awaiting Swiatek in the semi-finals is American teenager Coco Gauff, who secured her spot by beating Mirra Andreeva in straight sets, 7-5, 7-1.
Poland`s Swiatek was initially overwhelmed by Keys` powerful start in their quarter-final showdown on the main court. However, Swiatek, the second-ranked player globally, eventually found her rhythm to overcome the challenge from the fifth-ranked American.
Reflecting on the match, Swiatek commented, “`It was one of the weirdest matches I played… Maddie was playing just perfectly at the beginning, and I wasn`t really proactive with anything. I let Maddie do more mistakes by just putting the ball back, and the momentum changed.”
She added that the pace was a positive, saying, “At least it was fast, that`s the only positive thing. I just stayed in there. Obviously it wasn`t easy.”
This was the first meeting between Swiatek and Keys since their notable semi-final clash at the Australian Open, where Keys managed to save a match point against Swiatek before going on to win.
Swiatek is aiming for her third consecutive appearance in the Madrid Open final. She won the tournament last year, defeating Aryna Sabalenka in the final, after losing to Sabalenka in the 2023 final.
Before reaching this semi-final, Swiatek had not advanced past the semi-final stage in any tournament since the French Open last year.
In other quarter-final action, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka was scheduled to play against 24th seed Marta Kostyuk later on Wednesday.
Earlier, fourth seed Coco Gauff defeated seventh-ranked Mirra Andreeva in the Spanish capital. The young American needed 92 minutes to secure her victory over Andreeva, who recently celebrated her 18th birthday.
Both Gauff and Andreeva were able to finish their matches in the prior round just before a significant power blackout halted play on Monday, affecting numerous matches at the Caja Magica tennis complex and causing over 20 postponements across Spain and Portugal.
