MADRID: Coco Gauff dismantled defending champion Iga Swiatek 6-1 6-1 on Thursday with a ruthless display to storm into her first Madrid Open final, where she will face world number one Aryna Sabalenka for the WTA 1000 title.
Gauff and Swiatek had met 14 times, with the head-to-head heavily in four-time French Open winner Swiatek’s favour at 11 wins to 3, while the American had never beaten the Pole on clay.
Swiatek’s frustration mounted as Gauff stormed back from 0–1 to win 11 straight games and 12 of the last 13. Visibly rattled, the top seed lost her composure and was even hit with a rare code violation for an audible obscenity.
“Honestly, there’s nothing to walk through because it was all pretty much the same from the beginning to the end,” world number two Swiatek told reporters.
“I couldn’t really get my level up. Coco played good, but, yeah, I think it’s on me that I didn’t really move well, I wasn’t ready to play back the shots with heaviness, and with that kind of game like it was pretty bad.”
Two-time champion Sabalenka claimed a straight-sets victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina 6-3 7-5 to reach her third consecutive final in Madrid.
The Belarusian delivered a dominant performance and appeared to be cruising to victory after breaking early in the second set and serving for a 5-4 lead.
Yet 17th seed Svitolina broke back in what seemed a momentum shift, before Sabalenka responded immediately, breaking again to seal the win in just over 90 minutes.
“It’s hard to beat Svitolina, it was a very tough battle,” said the 26-year-old as she reached her fifth final of the year.
“But I’m very happy to reach the final. (Svitolina) makes you fight every point, to beat her you have to play your best tennis. And winning it gives you great confidence and means you’re in good shape.”
Draper to face musetti in semis
Earlier in the day, Briton fifth seed Jack Draper booked his place in the semi-finals with a commanding 6-0 6-4 win over Italy’s Matteo Arnaldi, setting up a clash with 10th seed Lorenzo Musetti, who eased past Canada’s Gabriel Diallo 6-4 6-3.
Argentine Francisco Cerundolo also progressed, rallying from a set down to beat Czech teenager Jakub Mensik 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 and will face Casper Ruud, who stunned ninth seed Daniil Medvedev 6-3 7-5, for a place in the final.
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