Swiatek recovers from 0-6 start to
beat Keys and set up Madrid semifinal vs. Gauff
[May 01, 2025]
By TALES AZZONI
MADRID (AP) — Iga Swiatek survived “one of the weirdest matches”
after losing the first six games and recovering to defeat Madison
Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and stay on track to defend her title at the
Madrid Open on Wednesday.
The second-ranked Swiatek will face Coco Gauff in the semifinals
after the 21-year-old American beat teenager Mirra Andreeva in
straight sets in the youngest WTA 1000 quarterfinal since 2009.
Swiatek was overpowered by Keys early in their quarterfinal but
eventually found a way to rally past the fifth-ranked American on
center court.
“It was one of the weirdest matches I played,” Swiatek said. “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.”
Swiatek said of going down 0-6 at the start of the match: “At least
it was fast, that’s the only positive think.”
It was the first meeting between the two since Swiatek squandered a
match point in the semifinals of the Australian Open that was won by
Keys.
Swiatek is trying to reach her third straight Madrid final. She beat
Aryna Sabalenka last year after losing to her in 2023.
Top-ranked Sabalenka needed two tiebreakers to advance, beating
Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7).
Sabalenka will face 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina for a spot in the
final. Svitolina beat Moyuka Uchijima 6-2, 6-1.
Gauff beats Andreeva
Gauff, ranked No. 4, who got past seventh-ranked Mirra Andreeva 7-5,
6-1. Andreeva turned 18 on Tuesday.
Since the introduction of the WTA 1000 tier, only the 2009 Indian
Wells quarterfinal between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Agnieszka
Radwanska had a younger combined age, the WTA said.
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Iga Swiatek of Poland celebrates following her victory over United
States' Madison Keys during the Madrid Open tennis tournament in
Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, April 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Gauff recovered after being down a break at 5-4 in
the first set. She faced two set points.
“Off the ground I think I was dictating most of the rallies, so
happy with that,” Gauff said. “Overall happy with everything.”
Both Gauff and Andreeva had been able to finish their matches in the
previous round just before play was paused because of the major
blackout that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday.
More than 20 matches had to be postponed at the Caja Magica tennis
complex.
Arnaldi keeps going
Matteo Arnaldi backed up his victory over Novak Djokovic in the
second round of the men's draw by defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-5
to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP 1000 tournament for the second
time.
Arnaldi now has three consecutive wins against top 20 opponents for
the first time in his career.
The Italian will next face Jack Draper, who advanced by beating
Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes. The sixth-ranked Draper clinched
his maiden ATP 1000 title in Indian Wells this year.
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