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The world number two Iga Swiatek secured a place in the semifinals of the Australian Open, defeating world number eight Emma Navarro in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
In a match that lasted almost 90 minutes, Swiatek downed Emma 6-1, 6-2 in pursuit of her sixth Grand Slam title. Swiatek, at the age of 23, is the youngest player to reach seven Grand Slam semifinals since Maria Sharapova reached her seventh semifinal at the US Open. Also, Swiatek has just dropped 14 games on her way to the semis, the fewest since Sharapova in 2013 (nine). Only Sharapova, Monica Seles in 1991 (12) and Stefanie Graf in 1989 (13) have dropped fewer games on their way to the Australian Open semifinals in the Open Era since the tournament moved to 128-player draws. Swiatek also made it to her first hard-court Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open 2022, but had lost to Danielle Collins. Now, she will be facing another American, Madison Keys in the semifinal clash. Also, Keys secured her spot in the semifinals with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals. Swiatek said that she is feeling more confident. "For sure now I am happy that I am kind of playing my level here. Last year my journey here finished in the fourth and third rounds, so for sure I feel more confident now," she said, according to WTA website In their first meeting since teenagers at an ITF event in 2018, Swiatek broke first and led 2-0 to take control of the match. Playing with her aggressive clay court style, Swiatek made a deft and patient use of her topspin forehand. After securing the first set in 35 minutes, Swiatek was put under pressure in the initial stage of the second set. "I think something she does really well is she is really quick, and she does everything with 100 per cent conviction and intensity. She has a different style of movement and play. It is tough to not be sort of affected by that and not feel like, okay, I have to do everything at the same speed that she is doing it. So that was something, for sure, I felt a little bit today," said Navarro about Swiatek. Having an eye on the top ranking of Aryna Sabalenka, Swiatek is the only semifinalist who has not dropped a set in this tournament. "On the tennis court you kind of need to be ruthless," Swiatek said, "But 'ruthless' usually means something negative as well. But I think for me, just focusing on myself and having the same kind of attitude no matter what the score is is important. This is what I base my strength on and my consistency and the way I just continue to do the good things I do on court." "Maybe looks ruthless, but it is not my goal to do that. I just want to win more and more games, and this is the effect I got for the past matches," she concluded. (ANI)
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