Coco Gauff boldly claims she has ‘good chance’ to upset Iga Swiatek in Madrid Open semifinal
Though Coco Gauff is confident she can beat Iga Swiatek in the Madrid Open semifinals, she has won only thrice against the Pole in their 14 matches.
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Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)
Coco Gauff has now a huge challenge ahead of her. For her to reach her first singles final of the season, she will have to battle past Iga Swiatek in the semifinal.
The match, scheduled on Thursday (May 1), will be their 15th encounter on the tour. Swiatek holds a commanding 11-3 lead in the head-to-head matchups. But it was Gauff, who emerged victorious in the last two matches they played in the round-robin stage of the 2024 WTA Finals and in this year’s United Cup final.
I feel like I have a good chance to win. Overall, I think it’s just I’m getting better with each match. I feel like today was back to the level I was playing earlier this year and I’m super excited to play tomorrow and match up my game against one of the best in the world.
Coco Gauff told Tennis Channel
Gauff, however, lost all the five matches she played against the five-time Grand Slam champion on clay, including the 2022 French Open final. Prior to setting up the clash with Swiatek, the American denied Mirra Andreeva a chance to take home her third WTA 1000 title of the season with a 7-5, 6-1 win.
Swiatek surprisingly received a bagel from reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the quarterfinals. But after the 0-6 first set, Swiatek made a strong comeback and emerged victorious in the second set. She didn’t let the momentum shift against her favor and eventually came out on top with a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 scoreline to avenge her Australian Open semifinal defeat this year.
The 21-year-old has now become the second-youngest player to reach the semifinals in both the Madrid Open and the Rome Open. Former World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki achieved this feat when she was 20 years old. Her win over Andreeva was also her 25th top 10 win of her career, making her the youngest to do so since Ana Ivanovic who had registered her 25th top 10 win at the age of 20 in 2008.
Iga Swiatek reveals what mistake she made against Madison Keys
After dropping a set against Alexandra Eala and Diana Shnaider, Iga Swiatek shocked the watchers of the game when she lost the first set 0-6 against Madison Keys. The set ended in just 24 minutes and the reason behind her mediocre performance was her serves.
I think she played very well, and I didn’t serve well. So, against a player like her, when you don’t serve well, it’s obvious it’s going to be difficult. She was serving very well, and in every service game, she got two or three points with aces or incredible serves. So when I wasn’t returning them, I had no chance of winning a point.
Iga Swiatek said at the press conference
Swiatek registered a 0-6 defeat in the first set for the first time in nearly four years. In the 2021 Eastbourne International, Daria Kasatkina had bageled her. She hit 35 unforced errors during the match. Now that she registered a win over the 30-year-old, she took a 5-2 lead and is also 4-0 on clay.
Swiatek (71%), has now surpassed Serena Williams (70.0%) for the second-highest win percentage against the WTA top 10 opponents and is only behind Steffi Graf (75%). It was Swiatek’s 20th semifinal in 36 matches of the WTA 1000 categories.
Swiatek has also reached three consecutive semifinals in Madrid, which, prior to her, only Maria Sharapova had advanced to. Last year, the 23-year-old saved three championship points to deny Aryna Sabalenka her third title in the Spanish capital, lifting her first trophy in the tournament.
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