World No.1 Iga Swiatek booked a spot in her second consecutive Mutua Madrid Open final with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over No.18 seed Madison Keys in Thursday's semifinals.
Poland's Swiatek needed just 70 minutes to reach her third final of the year and move one step closer to her third WTA 1000 title of 2024. Swiatek is 2-0 in finals so far this season, clinching championship trophies at WTA 1000 events in Doha and Indian Wells.
"It was a pretty clean performance and really solid game from myself," Swiatek said afterwards. "I'm happy with everything."
Swiatek finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka at Madrid last year. There will be a rematch in this year's final after No.2 seed Sabalenka squeaked past No.4 seed Elena Rybakina 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(5) in Thursday's second semifinal.
"I'm happy that we can play a final against the top players," Swiatek said, between her semifinal and the later semifinal. "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."
Fast facts: American Keys was hoping to extend her successful run in Madrid, having already notched two Top 10 wins over Coco Gauff and Ons Jabeur in the previous rounds.
Keys had already proved she could defeat Swiatek -- her lone previous win over a reigning World No.1 (in six attempts) was over Swiatek at 2022 Cincinnati.
However, Swiatek took command early on Thursday and never let up, saving all three of the break points she faced. Swiatek also won 64 percent of points returning the Keys second serve, leading to a 4-for-5 break point conversion rate.
Swiatek improved to 3-1 versus Keys in their head-to-head, and the World No.1 collected her 29th win of the season -- only Elena Rybakina has more match-wins than Swiatek in 2024. Swiatek is also 5-0 against players from the United States this year.
Match moments: After a hot start by Swiatek to 3-0, Keys came close to quickly pulling back on serve. The American blasted three fiery forehands in a row to reach double break point on Swiatek's serve at 3-1.
However, Swiatek found a couple of her best serves of the day to fend off those chances, and the top seed gritted out a tough hold for 4-1. From there, Swiatek was unchallenged in the opener as she eased to the one-set lead.
The second set progressed in a similar vein. Swiatek moved ahead by an early break, carving a passing winner to lead 2-1. Keys held another break point to pull back on serve in the next game, but Swiatek survived it and retained her advantage.
At 5-3, a huge forehand service return gave Swiatek triple match point. The No.1 seed only needed one of those chances, after Keys sent a forehand long to end the encounter.
8 - Iga Swiatek has equalled equals Aryna Sabalenka for the most WTA main draw matches played in 2024 without a single game dropped on serve (eight). Expected?
55.6% - Iga Swiatek has reached the final in 55.6% (10/18) of WTA main draws she has entered on clay, the highest percentage of any player with 5+ WTA main draws appearances on this surface this Century. Specialty.
10 - Iga Swiatek is the youngest player since Martina Hingis (in Hamburg 2000) to make 10 WTA event finals on clay court. Playground.
3 - In the last 40 years, only Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert faced each other more often (4 times) as World No. 1 and No. 2 on clay court than Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka (3, in the final at the Madrid Open). Rendez-vous.
We have a rematch of last year's Madrid final, how about that!. After Sabalenka lost the first set with error after errors a meeting with Rybakina seemed inevitable.
But Sabalenka really hung in there and got better as the match went along (it's rare that I praise her because her style of play is not my favourite) but credit has to be given because it really was quite the turnaround.
Most of Sabelenka's matches have been 3 setters so she's really had to work for it this year.
Iga had a test in her previous match herself if the final on Saturday is anything like last year we're in for a treat!.
Sabalenka's experience definitely won her this match (and the experience of winning it twice before).
It'll be interesting to see if some of the old demon's show up (like they did today) or if she'll keep it all contained. And if trying to go for a 3-peat will add extra pressure.
As for Iga I hope she plays as calm and composed as she did with Keys today, not trying to overpower the big hitter just patiently working the point until she got the shot she wanted.
So often she's too aggressive and makes unnecessary errors when she could instead use her athleticism to her advantage (which is again something she displayed with Keys).
I kind of get the feeling that Iga and her team will pick the right tactics this time and she just might get her revenge on Saturday.
It won't be easy but I think it's going to go Iga's way (playing Keys was a good precursor to Sabalenka). I think it'll only serve to her advantage.
Whatever happens Saturday I know it's going to be exciting, looking forward to it.
Jazda Iga!.
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