MADRID — Iga Swiatek has been far from her invincible self at the Mutua Madrid Open. As she progressed to the quarterfinals here, she uncharacteristically dropped sets to younger players Alexandra Eala and Diana Shnaider.
And then came Wednesday’s shocker. Swiatek is an accomplished baker — her bagels are world-renowned — but No. 5 seed Madison Keys took the first set, 6-0, in a scant 24 minutes.
Swiatek, however, is a four-time Roland Garros champion for a number of significant reasons. The World No. 2 wins nearly 90 percent of her matches on clay and on Wednesday, those instincts kicked in on the way to a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
“Honestly, it was one of the weirdest matches I’ve ever played,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I didn’t feel like [the first set] was that bad. I felt the ball well — it just went super long.
“I tried to play a bit shorter, and with some mistakes by Maddy, the momentum changed in the end. I’m happy that I did it.”
Coco next up: The triumph sent Swiatek into Thursday’s semifinals against No. 4 seed Coco Gauff, who reeled off nine of the last 10 games in her quarterfinal victory over No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva.
Swiatek is 11-3 lifetime against Gauff, but Gauff has won their last two meetings, including this year at United Cup. However, Gauff is yet to beat Swiatek on clay.