Imperious Iga Swiatek marches on to set up Madison Keys semi-final at Australian Open

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.
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.
Keys, meanwhile, has started the year performing at an exceptional level and she is now on a 10-match winning streak after claiming the Adelaide Open title 11 days ago. Her run has included six top-20 wins and two other top-30 wins.
Keys’ victory also marks her seventh grand slam semi-final and her third in Melbourne after making her first career grand slam semi-final at the 2015 Australian Open before returning to the stage in 2022. Her best grand slam result came in 2017 when she reached the US Open final, losing to her close friend Sloane Stephens.
“I think I play a little bit smarter, for sure. Probably a little bit less fearless though,” said Keys of her development over the past decade. “To be here, 10 years later in the semi-finals again, I’m really proud of myself and really excited to play another semi-final in Melbourne.”
Svitolina had started the match in brilliant form, putting Keys, the 19th seed, under constant pressure by absorbing her pace, maintaining excellent depth and looking for opportunities to attack. But Keys is one of the biggest ball-strikers in the history of the sport and she is so difficult to stop when in full flow. After finding rhythm on her serve, Keys gradually began to dominate the baseline exchanges with controlled, destructive ballstriking off both wings. She finished an imperious performance with 49 winners.
“I felt like I just had to start playing a little bit more aggressive and try to get to the net a little bit quicker,” said Keys. “She was controlling a lot of the points and making me run. I felt like I needed to try and get on the advantage a little bit quicker. Luckily I was able to do that.”