Rampant Swiatek sweeps into semis

Five-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek swept past Emma Navarro into an Australian Open semifinal against Madison Keys on Wednesday to match her best performance in Melbourne.

The Polish second seed was phenomenal on a gusty day at Rod Laver Arena, powering past the eighth-seeded American 6-1, 6-2.

It equalled her best result at the Australian Open from 2022 when she fell to eventual runner-up Danielle Collins in the last four.

Keys is her next hurdle after the American 19th seed sent Ukraine's Elina Svitolina packing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Keys, who made the last four for the third time, 10 years after her first, is on a career-best 10-match win streak after clinching the Adelaide title this month.

But she will have her work cut out with Swiatek yet to drop a set and giving up only 14 games so far in her five matches — seven of those came in her first-round clash.

"Madison is a great player and experienced so you never know," Swiatek said.

"It will be tricky, I will just be focused on my self. She has already played a good tournament here and we are well aware of how she can play."

Swiatek has not only been in sizzling form but has gone about her business with an air of calmness and confidence, totally focused on the end goal.

One of the those goals is retaking the No 1 world ranking she lost last year to Aryna Sabalenka when slapped with a one-month doping ban.

If Sabalenka falls in her semifinal against Paula Badosa on Thursday, the Pole will again rise to the top.

Should Swiatek and Sabalenka meet in the final, the winner would leave Australia with the No 1 ranking.

The Pole wasted no time showing who was in charge against Navarro, breaking the American to love with back-to-back winners before a comfortable hold for 2-0.

She broke twice more as Navarro struggled to convert first serve points, faring even worse on her second serve.

Navarro had spent more than 10 hours on court to reach the quarterfinals, slogging through four three-setters, in contrast to Swiatek's court time of four hours and 30 minutes.

She showed more resistance in set two, but ultimately was only able to watch as Swiatek held for 3-2 despite Navarro claiming a point was won on a double bounce, then broke and raced home.

"I think it was much tougher than the score says," said Swiatek.

Feeling no pressure

Once paralyzed by the pressure to win a Grand Slam title, Keys is now at peace with her lot as she prepares for a blockbuster semifinal with Swiatek.

Nearly 16 years after turning professional at the age of 14, Keys is still going strong at the majors even if the silverware has eluded her.

The closest she has come was a run to the 2017 US Open final where she was beaten 6-3, 6-0 by Sloane Stephens in an all-American clash.

Negotiating second seed Swiatek, who has crushed all five of her opponents at Melbourne Park, will be a huge task for Keys but pressure is unlikely to be a problem for the hard-hitting American.

"I'm getting to the point where I'm starting to appreciate my career for what it has been, and it doesn't have to have a Grand Slam in order for me to look at it and say, 'I've done a really good job, and I've really left everything out there'," the 29-yearold told reporters.

"Now, while that's obviously still the goal, there have been periods of my career where it felt like if I didn't win one, then I hadn't done enough, and I didn't live up to my potential in all of that.

"That kind of took a lot of the fun out of the game, and there were times when it felt paralyzing out on the court because it felt as if I needed it to happen instead of giving myself the opportunity to go out and potentially do it."

While Swiatek has been unstoppable in Melbourne and holds a 4-1 winning record over Keys, the Illinois native can go toe-to-toe with the world's best when her power game is on song.

It took a while for it to warm up against Svitolina but soon proved overwhelming for the outgunned 28th seed.

While rarely associated with defense, patience or even much of a Plan B, Keys said she would be wary about being too aggressive against Swiatek.

"The biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is because since she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral," she said.

"So then there's just such a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move and going for things, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly."

Zhang Shuai loses

Zhang Shuai and Kristina Mladenovic's run at the Australian Open has ended with defeat in the women's doubles quarterfinals.

Ninth seeds Zhang and Mladenovic were beaten by the top-seeded duo of Taylor Townsend and Katerina Siniakova 6-1, 7-5 in 70 minutes on Wednesday.

After losing the first set in under half an hour, Zhang and Mladenovic were gallant in the second, coming back from 2-5 down and saving two match points before eventually falling to the reigning Wimbledon champions.

Agencies