MADRID – Iga Swiatek lost his first six games and beat the Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and survived “one of the strangest matches” after recovering back on track to defend her title at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Coco Gough also made it to the semi-finals, beating teenager Mira Andreva in straight sets.
Swiatek overwhelmed Key early in the quarterfinals, but found a way to pass the fifth-placed American on Center Court.
“It was one of the strangest matches I’ve played,” said second-placed Swiatek. “Maddie was playing perfectly at first, but I wasn’t aggressive at all. Just getting Maddie back the ball and it made me make more mistakes and changed momentum.”
Swiatek added that it was “strange” as it would make him feel bad to drop the set 6-0.
“At least it was fast, that’s the only positive idea,” she said. “I just stayed there. Obviously it wasn’t easy.”
It was the first meeting of the two as Swiatek wasted match points in the Australian Open semi-finals and the Keys acquired it.
Swiatek is about to reach her third Madrid Final. She defeated Alina Sabalenka last year after losing to her in 2023. Sweet has not made its semi-finals in any tournament since last year’s French Open.
World number one player, Sabalenka will later face 24th-seed Marta Kostyuk in the quarter-final match.
Swiatek then faced fourth-placed Gauff, past seventh-placed Andreeva 7-5, 6-1.
Gauff, 21, needed just 92 minutes to win a victory over Andreeva, who turned 18 on Tuesday.
Gauff and Andreeva were able to finish the match in the previous round just before play was suspended due to a major blackout that stopped Spain and Portugal on Monday. I had to postpone more than 20 matches at the Caja Magica Tennis Complex.
Matteo Arnald supported the victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men’s draw by defeating Francis Tierfor 6-3, 7-5 for the second time in the quarterfinals of the ATP 1000 tournament.
Arnaldi is now in his first career victory over his top 20 opponents for the first time in his career, three times in a row.