Imperious Iga Swiatek marches on to set up Madison Keys semi-final at Australian Open
Share:
Iga Swiatek and Madison Keys will battle for a spot in the Australian Open final after the Polish No 2 seed dismantled the eighth seed Emma Navarro 6-1, 6-2 to continue her dominant run in Melbourne. Earlier on Wednesday, Keys maintained her own excellent form at the start of the season with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over 27th seed Elina Svitolina.
![[Madison Keys celebrates beating Elina Svitolina to reach the Australian Open semis.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6f4f41e7cf27214c29956b3655751febf1017f43/0_0_3403_2269/master/3403.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
In her first tournament alongside her new coach, Wim Fissette, Swiatek has now matched her best result at the Australian Open, which she achieved in 2022. She is yet to drop a set this year in Melbourne and she has lost just 14 games overall, half of those games coming in her 6-3, 6-4 first round win over Katerina Siniakova. Navarro, in her third consecutive grand slam quarter-final, represented a step up in quality for Swiatek, who had not yet faced a top 40 opponent.
However, Swiatek set the tone for another dominant win in her opening return game, demolishing the Navarro second serve en route to a quick, early break. While Navarro defended well, elongated rallies and forced her opponent to work hard for each point, Swiatek dictated the entire match from on top of the baseline with her far greater weight of shot, pairing her aggression with patience and composure for a comfortable win.
The match included a controversial call at 2-2 in the second set as Swiatek chased down a drop shot from Navarro before ending the point with a backhand winner. Subsequent replays, however, showed the ball had bounced twice before Swiatek reached Navarro’s drop shot. Video review technology is available at the Australian Open but because Navarro continued the point, she was not allowed to go back and change it.
