Today, there is no more reliable competitor on the women’s circuit than Iga Swiatek, the world number one, the player who reigns in tennis since Ashleigh Barty retired in March 2022. It can be seen from the beginning this Thursday in the Madrid Masters, where the Pole overwhelms Madison Keys (6-1, 6-3, 1h 11m) with her formidable dominance from the baseline in her fifteenth semifinals of a WTA 1000, the record for a player of only 22 years that has already conquered four majors. With the Manolo Santana stadium practically full, with dozens of Poles in the stands cheering on her figure – there were about 15 flags of the country -, Swiatek imposed her devilish rhythm, her fronton on the other side of the net to defeat the American (20th of the ranking) with a double break in each set and grab the ticket for the final (Saturday, at 6:30 p.m., on Teledeporte and Movistar) of the only major clay court tournament that is missing after winning three Roland Garros and two crowns in Rome. After falling in 2023 on the last step against Sabalenka (2nd), opposite will be Rybakina (4th) or again the powerful Belarusian (they play this Friday not before 9:30 p.m., Tdp and Movistar), the only tennis player who has questioned its hegemony since it began more than two years ago.
There are very few tennis players on the circuit capable of keeping up with Swiatek. The Pole may not be the most virtuous, and she is certainly not the one who hits the ball the hardest, but she is the most solid, a titanium competitor. Keys suffers from it, a 29-year-old tennis player who knows what it is to play in a Grand Slam final (US Open 2017) and win a WTA 1000 (Cincinnati Open 2019), but today she sees how the Pole punishes her from the baseline with a cadence that cannot be sustained. “I’m very happy to have had such a solid game today. Madison is not an easy player to play against, she has a very fast game and a great serve. I was very focused and I am happy to have followed my tactics,” she says at the foot of the track after the victory, Swiatek, who dedicates a few words in Polish to her compatriots who have come to the stadium today.
Keys has a great serve and a powerful forehand, and is the third American to reach the semifinals of the two WTA 1000 events on clay (Madrid and Rome) after the Williams sisters did, but her weapons this afternoon do not make a dent in the polish Swiatek, wearing a white long-sleeved shirt because of the leaden weather he is wearing these days in Madrid, sometimes looks like a robot on the baseline. He has fantastic footwork – supported by very strong legs – with which he neutralizes the service and forehand of his rival, unable to follow the rhythm he proposes. In a flash, he is up 3-0 in the first set (he takes 14 points from the first 17) and the threat of a donut (6-0) grows when she goes 0-30 on the American’s second serve. Keys responds with a couple of aceshits two good winning forehands, takes the game and puffs: he is the only one who succeeds in the first set.
Swiatek’s tennis is so precise that at times it seems like a pendulum. “Oh, oh, oh!”, he shouts when he misses two consecutive forehands in the early stages of the second set. The two unforced errors help Keys close out the first game of the set, the only time she has an advantage on the scoreboard. But the number one does not allow there to be more history this afternoon in the San Fermín neighborhood: she focuses again, she hits again with her erosion, with that rhythm of the ball that almost no one can stand, she breaks the American’s service on the next attempt and he does it again to win the clash with another break.
In the press room, asked how she feels about her level of tennis right now, Swiatek says “very confident.” She expects a rival for Saturday, whether it be Rybakina or Sabalenka, who in 2023 took the number one spot from her between September and November and in Madrid knocked her down in May in one of the most exciting finals in the history of the tournament: “It will be a challenge, be it whoever [la rival], and it will be hard. “I will be ready.”
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