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World No.1 Iga Swiatek sealed a spot in her second straight Madrid Open final with a victory over No.18 seed Madison Keys in the semifinal clash on Thursday.
Poland's Swiatek needed just 70 minutes to reach her third final of the year with a 6-1, 6-3 triumph against the American. Swiatek got out to a fast start, leading 3-0, and Keys nearly pulled back on service. The American smashed three powerful forehands in succession to reach double break point on Swiatek's serve at 3-1. "It was a pretty clean performance and really solid game from myself. I'm happy with everything," Swiatek said afterwards as quoted by WTA. Swiatek, on the other hand, used a pair of her best serves of the day to stave off those opportunities, and the top seed held on for a 4-1 victory. Swiatek was unbeaten in the opening, taking a one-set lead. "I'm happy that we can play a final against the top players. It shows consistency. For sure it's going to be a challenge, whoever it's gonna be, and a tough match. I will be ready. I will focus on myself. Yeah, we'll see," Swiatek said. The second set continued in a similar spirit. Swiatek took the lead early on, scoring a passing goal to make it 2-1. In the following game, Keys had another break opportunity to draw back on serve, but Swiatek held on and maintained her lead. Swiatek had three match points at 5-3 thanks to a tremendous forehand serve return. The No.1 seed only needed one of those opportunities, which came after Keys sent a forehand long to end the match. For her third WTA 1000 title of 2024, Swiatek will face either No.2 seed Aryna Sabalenka or No.4 seed Elena Rybakina for the title on Saturday. (ANI)
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