Iga Swiatek races past Keys to reach Madrid final as Medvedev retires
Iga Swiatek made light work of Madison Keys to book her return to the Madrid Open final. The top seed beat her American opponent 6-1, 6-3 in just 70 minutes in their semi-final on Thursday.
Heading into the contest having won two of their last three meetings, the 22-year-old Pole dominated from the start and wrapped up the opener in just over half an hour against the 18th seed, who defeated Ons Jabeur to reach the semi-finals.
The second set was no different with Keys causing little trouble to Swiatek, who lost last year’s final to Aryna Sabalenka. The world No 1 broke early and raced into a 5-3 lead before breaking again to secure a dominant win. Swiatek will face either Sabalenka or Elena Rybakina in the final.
“I feel really good,” Swiatek said. “I wasn’t really thinking about what happened last year. But repeating this result is a great thing. I’ll have a chance to play a nice match in two days. So it’s really exciting. I’m happy overall with the whole tournament.”
Swiatek, a four-times grand slam champion, is now the youngest player to reach 10 WTA-level finals on clay since Martina Hingis in 2000.
In the men’s draw, Daniil Medvedev retired after one set of his quarter-final against Jiri Lehecka, joining Jannik Sinner in withdrawing due to injury. Lehecka won the first set 6-4, with Medvedev having issues with his upper right thigh. The Russian sought treatment on his leg while leading the set 3-2 and again at 4-3 ahead.
Lehecka took over when he broke Medvedev’s serve in the ninth game en route to winning the final three games of the day as his opponent retired before the second set could begin. “Tough to say because when I stretch I don’t feel, but when I move I basically cannot move,” Medvedev reportedly told his trainer from the court.
“It’s never easy in a match like this,” Lehecka said post-match. “If I were to choose the way how to win this match, it wouldn’t be like that. The Czech hit two aces and won 15 of his 16 first-service points as he advanced to his first ATP Masters semi-final, where he will face Félix Auger-Aliassime.
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The Canadian received a bye when Sinner withdrew before their last-eight meeting with a hip problem. The other semi-final will feature Andrey Rublev, who eliminated Carlos Alcaraz, against the American Taylor Fritz.