Swiatek battles past Haddad Maia to progress into semi-finals, faces Keys next

Iga Swiatek recovered from being a set down to produce a battling performance and defeat Beatriz Haddad Maia to reach the last four of the Madrid Open on Tuesday.

The world No. 1 progressed into the semi-finals with a 4-6 6-0 6-2 victory over the 11th seed in two hours and 27 minutes.

The Pole is looking to win her maiden Madrid Open title after she was defeated by Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s final.

Swiatek has now reached her fifth semi-final of 2024 and will face Madison Keys for a place in the final.

The 22-year-old appeared to be cruising to a comfortable one-set lead when she found herself 4-1 up, but Haddad Maia delivered a stirring comeback.

The Brazilian bounced back and won the next five games to take the opening set and put Swiatek under pressure.

However, the Pole recovered in stunning fashion to win the second set 6-0 in under 40 minutes.

Swiatek has now achieved the most 6-0 sets won in 2024 so far along with American Coco Gauff. Both have won seven, with Sabalenka third on the list with five.

She continued her momentum into the third set where, similar to the opening set, she opened up a 4-1 lead.

Haddad Maia attempted to pull off a similar comeback by making it 4-2 but Swiatek crucially managed to hold serve to make it 5-2, before wrapping up the match with a crucial break.

Swiatek has now come away victorious against Beatriz Haddad Maia on the last three occasions after losing their first encounter in Toronto two years ago.

In Tuesday’s other quarter-final, Madison Keys pulled off a stunning comeback, as she recovered from a set down to beat Ons Jabeur 0-6 7-5 6-1.

The Tunisian romped through the first set, not looking back after breaking serve in the first game of the match as she sliced her way around the court and hit a string of winners en route to claiming it 6-0 in just 24 minutes.

Indeed, the second looked set to head the same way as the 8th seed went 2-0 up against an exasperated opponent.

Keys finally got on the board in the ninth game, holding to love and celebrating by sarcastically throwing her arms to the sky.

That livened the crowd up in Madrid, with the spectators in attendance keen to see the clash become a more even contest.

And the American duly responded by breaking back, taking advantage of her opponent missing some first serves before making it 2-2 when Jabeur netted with a forehand.

By now, she looked a different player, finding much more weight behind her groundstrokes and therefore holding much more comfortably than previously, although she made little impression on the Tunisian’s serve.

That was until the final game of the set, when Keys broke to 15, sealing it 7-5 when Jabeur went long with a wayward backhand.

The momentum had by now shifted the 18th seed’s way, out-powering her opponent as she broke again at the start of the third set, moving into a 2-0 lead by way of a whipped cross-court forehand, before serving superbly to go 3-0 up.

It was a commanding advantage, and she soon made it 4-0, breaking to love in another superb game that included a running cross-court forehand.

That was a sixth successive game for Keys, and a seventh followed as Jabeur found no answer to the brute force coming from the other side of the net.

The eighth seed finally stopped the rot when holding to love for 5-1, but it only delayed the inevitable as Keys screamed with delighted after served out the match to book her semi-final spot against Swiatek.

“The key was to get a game at the start,” the American said afterwards. “Once I did that, I feel like I finally settled in and relaxed a little bit and allowed myself to play some good tennis.

“I was able to somehow figure that out and get the win.”

Talking of the match-up with Swiatek, she added: “Obviously she’s an incredible player and does so well on clay.

“It’s going to be a really tough match, but as along as I control my side of the court, then I can be proud of what I leave out there.”