22 January,2025 06:28 AM IST | Melbourne | AP
Iga Swiatek returns to Emma Navarro during her win in Melbourne yesterday. PIC/AFP
Iga Swiatek is dominating her Australian Open opponents the way no one has at Melbourne Park since Maria Sharapova in 2013. Swiatek's latest lopsided win came via a 6-1, 6-2 score in the quarter-finals against No. 8 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday.
The No. 2-seeded Swiatek not only has not dropped a set so far in the tournament, but also has lost a grand total of only 14 games as she seeks her first title at Melbourne Park and sixth Grand Slam trophy overall. Sharapova was the last woman to reach the Australian Open semi-finals having dropped fewer than 15 games.
Madison Keys en route her win over Elina Svitolina yesterday
"She does everything with 100 per cent conviction and intensity," Navarro said about Swiatek. "She has a different style of movement and play. It's tough to not be sort of affected by that and not feel like, OK, I have to do everything at the same speed that she's doing it.' So that was something, for sure, I felt a little bit today."
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Swiatek will face No. 19 Madison Keys of the USA on Thursday night for a berth in the final. The other women's semi-final is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, against her good friend, No. 11 Paula Badosa.
Keys, whose best showing at a major was getting to the title match at the 2017 US Open, was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against Elina Svitolina and is into her third semi-final in Australia. "Iga is tough to beat because she has a lot of spin, kind of naturally, on both sides. She's a good server. She's a good returner. She moves incredibly well," Keys said.
"The biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is, because she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral," she added.
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