She might’ve never won the title in Madrid, but Iga Swiatek is looking the likeliest remaining player in the draw to do so this year, after a convincing 6-0 6-3 quarter-final victory over Petra Martic. Swiatek bagelled her opponent in the first set before wrapping up the win in the second set. She faces Veronika Kudermetova next, who defeated Jessica Pegula.
Iga Swiatek crushed Petra Martic 6-0 6-3 to make the last four at the Madrid Open, where she will face Veronika Kudermetova.
It was another vintage display from the world No. 1, who gave Martic no room to breathe in the first set – earning her seventh bagel of the year – before wrapping up the victory in the second set.
Swiatek had been pushed all the way in the previous round by Ekaterina Alexandrova, admitting it “wasn’t easy”, but there was no hint of that sort of test during the early skirmishes on Wednesday night in the Spanish capital.
The world No. 1 opened up by holding serve, before breaking a stunned Martic to love.
A mild scare occurred in game three as Swiatek faced down a break point, but that was saved and with it went any resistance from Martic, who won just three more points in the set as Swiatek romped away with it.
Swiatek got straight on the board in set two and it was then the Croatian’s turn to see if she could stop the rot.
And she could, putting together a fine sequence of points to level up at 1-1 and trigger a standing ovation from some inside La Caja Magica, who were no doubt keen to see more tennis.
Another comfortable Swiatek hold followed, and Martic did the same thereafter as the encounter belatedly became a contest.
But a break in the sixth game saw Swiatek move 4-2 ahead and she closed out the win to book her place in the semis.
Kudermetova reached her third semi-final of the year with a 6-4 0-6 6-4 win over third seed Jessica Pegula in two hours and five minutes.
After winning the first set, Kudermetova looked to have handed the momentum to Pegula as she committed 15 unforced errors and won just five points in the second set. But she bounced back impressively to advance to the semis.
“First set was pretty good for myself, but in the second set, I think Jessica start to play a little bit more aggressive,” said Kudermetova.
“I was maybe a little bit tired, but to be honest, in the second set I started laughing, ‘Veronika, you want to kill yourself. Again, three-set battle.’
“But before the final set, I say to myself, ‘Veronika, you need to try to do something, because if you will continue to play like this you will lose for sure. You need to start to play a little bit more aggressive.’ It was very important to break her in the first game.”
