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Gauff, the tournament's No. 3 seed, needed 71
minutes to take the opening set from No. 7 Qinwen for her first
victory over a top-10 player this season in three tries.
Gauff broke Qinwen's serve to take a 5-3 lead in the first set,
but with Gauff serving to win the set, Qinwen broke back. Gauff
had set point at 40-30 before Qinwen rallied.
Qinwen had a 3-2 lead in the opening set tiebreaker before Gauff
took control by winning four consecutive points, the first two
on Qinwen's serve.
Gauff broke Qinwen's serve in the opening game of the second set
and rolled to the win from there.
"I bet on myself to continue to go big," said Gauff, who won 80
percent (32 of 40) of her first-serve points.
"I know when I go big and my serve goes in, it's dangerous. Even
though this tournament I want to win, I'm trying to think
long-term. I don't want to lose the 120 (mph) serve by not going
for it."
She will need a top serving day when she faces the top-seed
Swiatek, who finished off No. 18 Keys in 76 minutes while
winning her 10th consecutive match.
Swiatek moved within two wins from winning in Spain and Italy
back-to-back, something only Serena Williams accomplished, in
2013.
While Swiatek was able to break Keys' serve four times, she
saved all 10 of the break points she faced, improving to 36-4 on
the year. She also improved to 75-10 on clay in her career.
"There were some tight games that could go kind of both ways,"
Swiatek said. "I'm happy that I was really focused in important
moments to break or to not give Maddie a break."
Despite her overpowering serve, Keys had just a 2-1 advantage on
aces, with 63 percent of her first-serve points won to 80
percent for Swiatek.
"She moves on it really well -- like no other player," Keys
said. "She slides so well. It's a tough situation, because you
can't really wrong-foot her."
Swiatek also is closing in on her third title at the tournament
in four years.
--Field Level Media [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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