'Pretty bad' Swiatek thrashed by Gauff

Coco Gauff celebrates after winning her semi final match against Iga Swiatek at the Madrid Open.

Reigning champion Iga Swiatek suffered a crushing 6-1, 6-1 semi-final defeat by Coco Gauff on Thursday, with the American to face world number one Aryna Sabalenka for the Madrid Open title.

The second-ranked Swiatek, a five-time Grand Slam winner, dropped serve five times against Gauff as the Pole fell in 64 minutes.

Swiatek, usually excellent on clay, has struggled during her Madrid title defence.

She dropped sets against Alexandra Eala and Diana Shnaider, and then was dealt a bagel by Madison Keys in just 24 minutes on Wednesday.

However, the 23-year-old bounced back strongly to defeat the American, but came undone against Keys' compatriot Gauff, who beat Swiatek for the first time on the red dirt.

With this latest loss, Swiatek has only the upcoming Italian Open to help her get back to winning ways before she defends her French Open title later in May -- her 2024 triumph at Roland Garros was the last trophy the former world number one lifted.

"I couldn't really get my level up. Coco played good, but, yeah, I think it's on me that I didn't really move well," said Swiatek.

"With that kind of game, it was pretty bad.

"I think I pushed kind of with my head for more than I even should, tennis-wise," she added. "Today for sure everything kind of collapsed."

Gauff, 21, broke in the third, fifth and seventh games to blow Swiatek away in the first set, converting her second set point.

The world number four secured two more breaks in the second set and wrapped up victory at the first time of asking.

"Obviously she wasn't maybe playing her best tennis, but I think I made her uncomfortable," said Gauff. "She is very talented and can make you run and move you around the court. And I just tried to not do that today."

Gauff beat Swiatek at the 2025 United Cup and in the WTA Finals last year, both on hardcourt, but the American had never previously defeated the four-time French Open winner on clay.

"I think the previous times we played on clay I don't think I had a win against her yet..." said Gauff.

"Obviously on clay she's a different player, but clay is one of my better surfaces too, and I thought if I can beat her on hard I can beat her on clay."

Last year's runner-up Sabalenka sealed a return to the final after battling past Ukraine's in-form Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-5.

Sabalenka won four of the first five games and a second break of serve was enough to pocket the opening set.

The Belarusian led 4-2 in the second set but was broken when serving for the match a few games later. Sabalenka responded right away with another break before sewing up victory at the second attempt.

Sabalenka is the first WTA player to reach 30 match wins this season and is through to her fourth final in five years in Madrid, having won the tournament in 2021 and 2023 before losing to Swiatek last year.

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