Iga Swiatek overwhelms Emma Navarro to advance to Australian Open semifinals | CBC Sports
Iga Swiatek’s latest lopsided win at the Australian Open came via a 6-1, 6-2 score in the quarterfinals against No. 8 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday in Melbourne.
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. The last woman to make it to the Australian Open semifinals having ceded fewer than 15 games was Maria Sharapova back in 2013.
“I’m really happy with the tournament overall,” said Swiatek, who will face No. 19 Madison Keys of the U.S. on Thursday night for a berth in the final. “Being in the semis is great. I’ll push for more.”
Swiatek benefited from what appeared to be a missed double-bounce on a point she won in the second set, but Navarro did not immediately ask for a video review. Either way, Swiatek’s dominance was pretty clear, even if she was modest about things afterward.
“Well, I think it was much more tougher than the score says,” said Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland. “Emma’s a fighter … and I wanted to stay focused and keep my intensity.”
The other women’s semifinal 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 U.S. Open, was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against Elina Svitolina and is into her third semifinal in Australia.
“Madison is a great player and experienced, so you never know,” said Swiatek, who is 4-1 against the 29-year-old Keys. “I’ll be just focused on myself.”
Using a new racket this season, Keys is on a 10-match winning streak, including a title at a hard-court tuneup event in Adelaide. Her run to the semifinals in Melbourne includes victories over two past runners-up at the Australian Open, Danielle Collins and Elina Rybakina.
Keys’ past losses in the semifinals in Melbourne came against eventual champions Serena Williams in 2015 and Ash Barty in 2022.
“I think I play a little bit smarter for sure … probably a little bit less fearless,” Keys said.
Svitolina, a three-time Slam semifinalist, was in control during the first set. But Keys made some tactical adjustments, including looking for more opportunities to get to the net. She won 23 of the 26 points when she moved forward and ended up with a total of 49 winners, 23 on her powerful forehand side.
The one difficulty Keys had was getting going in her return games. But she finally converted her seventh break chance to lead 4-2 in the second set.
“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, looking ahead to Thursday. “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.”
