Swiatek races into second Australian Open semifinal; faces Keys

MELBOURNE -- World No.2 Iga Swiatek needed 89 minutes to make her first Grand Slam semifinal outside Roland Garros since winning the 2022 US Open. On Wednesday, the five-time major champion eased past No.8 Emma Navarro 6-1, 6-2 in the Australian Open quarterfinals. 

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Swiatek, 23, is the youngest player to reach seven Grand Slam semifinals since Maria Sharapova reached her seventh at the 2006 US Open. She has lost just 14 games en route to the semifinals, the fewest since Sharapova in 2013 (9). Only Sharapova, Monica Seles in 1991 (12) and Stefanie Graf in 1989 (13) have dropped fewer games to make the Australian Open semifinals in the Open Era since the tournament moved to 128-player draws.

Swiatek made her first hard-court Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in 2022, where she lost to Danielle Collins. She will face another American for a spot in the final when she takes on No.14 Madison Keys. A champion in Adelaide two weeks ago, Keys notched her tour-leading 12th win of the season by defeating Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the earlier quarterfinal. 

"Honestly, I wasn't going so deep in Grand Slams so much except Roland Garros," Swiatek said. "For sure now I'm happy that I'm kind of playing my level here. Last year my journey here finished at fourth and third round, so for sure I feel more confident now."

The singles semifinals will be played on Thursday evening at Melbourne Park. Swiatek and Keys will follow the first semifinal between World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka and No.12 Paula Badosa. If Sabalenka and Swiatek advance to Saturday's final, the blockbuster showdown will determine who leaves Melbourne Park as the Hologic WTA Tour World No.1.

In their first meeting since 16-year-olds at an ITF event in 2018, Swiatek broke first to lead 2-0 and took immediate control of the match. On a blustery day at Melbourne Park, Swiatek tapped into her aggressive clay-court style to push Navarro around the court, with deft and patient use of her topspin forehand. After pocketing the first set in 35 minutes, Swiatek was put under more consistent pressure in the early stages of the second set.

"I think something she does really well is she's really quick, and she does everything with 100 percent conviction and intensity," Navarro said. "She has a different style of movement and play. It's tough to not be sort of affected by that and not feel like, okay, I have to do everything at the same speed that she's doing it. So that was something, for sure, I felt a little bit today."

Navarro, playing in her third consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal, earned her first break point of the match with Swiatek serving at 2-2. Swiatek wiped out that sole chance and broke in the next game. In all, Navarro managed to take Swiatek to deuce in three service games in the second set, but the former No.1 stood tall to finish her day perfect from the service line. She has not been broken in her last four matches.

With an eye towards reclaiming the No.1 ranking from Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek is the only semifinalist who has yet to drop a set in the tournament. Since her 6-3, 6-4 win over Katerina Siniakova in the first round, Swiatek has not lost more than 2 games in a set. 

"On the tennis court you kind of need to be ruthless," Swiatek said, "[but] 'ruthless' usually means something negative as well. But I think for me, just focusing on myself and having the same kind of attitude no matter what the score is is important. This is what I base my strength on and my consistency and the way I just continue to do the good things I do on court.

"Maybe looks ruthless, but it's not my goal to do that. I just want to win more and more games, and this is the effect I got for the past matches."