Iga Swiatek of Poland secured her place in the Australian Open semifinals with an impressive performance, defeating eighth seed Emma Navarro of the USA 6-1, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena on Wednesday.
Swiatek is set to face Madison Keys, another American, who triumphed over Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Keys, aiming for her first Grand Slam title, will face a tough challenge against Swiatek, who has convincingly won all five of her matches in this year's first major tournament without dropping a set.
A powerhouse from start to finish, Swiatek broke Navarro's serve to love in the very first game and maintained relentless pressure throughout the match. In a critical moment during the fifth game of the second set, Swiatek made an impressive retrieval of a drop shot that bounced twice before her racket caught it, allowing her to take both the point and the game.
Despite Navarro's efforts to contest the call, Swiatek remained focused and unphased. \"I didn't see the replay after this point because … I wanted to stay focused and didn't want this point to stay in my head for a longer period of time,\" Swiatek told reporters.
While the spotlight has been on the top half of the women's draw, where Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the semifinals against Paula Badosa, Swiatek's outstanding performance puts her in a strong position to vie for the title, having only surrendered 14 games in her five matches so far.
Reference(s):
Swiatek advances to women's singles semifinals at Australian Open
cgtn.com
