Swiatek survives rare bagel against her to beat Keys and claim semi-final spot in Madrid

Iga Swiatek survived a rare bagel – against her – as she beat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.

The Pole was blown away in the first set as she was bagelled for just the ninth time at WTA Tour level but bounced back superbly to gain a little revenge over Keys for her defeat by the American in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January.

“It was one of the weirdest matches I’ve played,” said Swiatek, who will play either Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva. “Maddy was playing perfectly at the beginning and I wasn’t really pro-active but I didn’t feel like it was that bad. I was feeling the ball well, it just went super-long most of the time.

“I just tried to play a bit shorter, put it in and let Maddy make more mistakes. Then the momentum changed. I just stayed in there. It wasn’t easy to lose that first set 6-0 but I just tried and I’m happy I did.”

Swiatek has been dishing out bagels on the rest of the Tour for the past few years as she has racked up five slam titles, including four French Opens. On the receiving end for the first time since 2021, and on clay for the first time since 2019, she admitted it was an odd feeling.

“Not good,” she said. “At least it’s fast, but that’s the only positive thing. Staying on court and having 0-6 is just weird.

Keys perfect early, Swiatek strong mentally

Keys made just two unforced errors in a blistering first set that lasted just 24 minutes, Swiatek struggling to make enough first serves and then being punished on her second.

The Pole took a lengthy bathroom break before the start of the second and that seemed to clear her head as she began to play with more margin for error, pushing Keys back and out of her comfort zone.

It worked immediately as she raced to a 5-1 lead and though Keys got one of the breaks back, the world No 2 closed it out.

One break, in the fifth game of the third, gave Swiatek the edge she needed and she picked up another break before serving out the match to reach the semi-finals for the third year in a row.

Earlier in the tournament, the Pole beat Filipino wildcard Alexandra Eala (4-6, 6-4, 6-2), No 31 seed Linda Noskova (6-4, 6-2) and Russian Diana Shnaider, the No 13 seed (6-0, 6-7 (3), 6-4).

Keys, ranked No 5, won against Italian Lucia Bronzetti (6-4, 6-3), Russian Anna Kalinskaya, the No 30 seed (7-5, 7-6 (3)) and Croat Donna Vekic, the No 19 seed (6-2, 6-3) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Caja Mágica, clay, EUR 7.854.000, most recent results first):

• Aryna Sabalenka vs. Marta Kostyuk
• Moyuka Uchijima vs. Elina Svitolina
• Mirra Andreeva vs. Coco Gauff