MADRID — Iga Swiatek survived “one of the weirdest matches” after losing the first six games and recovering to defeat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and stay on track to defend her title at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Coco Gauff also advanced to the semifinals, beating teenager Mirra Andreeva in straight sets.
Swiatek was overpowered by Keys early in their quarterfinal but found a way to rally past the fifth-ranked American on center court.
“It was one of the weirdest matches I played,” the second-ranked Swiatek said. “Maddie was playing just perfectly at the beginning, and I wasn’t really proactive with anything. I let Maddie do more mistakes by just putting the ball back, and the momentum changed.”
Swiatek said it didn’t feel good to drop a set 6-0, adding that it was “weird.”
“At least it was fast, that’s the only positive think,” she said. “I just stayed in there. Obviously it wasn’t easy.”
It was the first meeting between the two since Swiatek squandered a match point in their Australian Open semifinal that was won by Keys.
Swiatek is trying to reach her third straight Madrid final. She beat Aryna Sabalenka last year after losing to her in 2023. Swiatek hasn’t gone past the semifinals at any tournament since last year’s French Open.
Sabalenka, the No. 1 player in the world, later faces 24th-seed Marta Kostyuk in her quarterfinal match.
Swiatek will next face fourth-ranked Gauff, who got past seventh-ranked Andreeva 7-5, 6-1.
The 21-year-old Gauff needed just 92 minutes to earn the win against Andreeva, who turned 18 on Tuesday.
Both Gauff and Andreeva had been able to finish their matches in the previous round just before play was paused because of the major blackout that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill Monday. More than 20 matches had to be postponed at the Caja Magica tennis complex.
Matteo Arnaldi backed up his victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men’s draw by defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP 1000 tournament for the second time.
Arnaldi now has three consecutive wins against top-20 opponents for the first time in his career.
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