Sawt Falasteen - Swiatek recovers against Keys to reach Madrid Open semis

Searching for her first title of the season, the second-seeded Swiatek recovered from a poor opening set to improve her clean record on clay against Keys to 4-0 and reach a third consecutive Madrid semi-final.

Keys knocked out the Pole on her way to a maiden Grand Slam title in Melbourne three months ago and seemed to have cracked the Swiatek code when she handed her a bagel in the first set on Wednesday.

But Swiatek, who was contesting a 17th consecutive quarter-final on clay, cut down on her errors and struck back to book a last-four clash with Coco Gauff or Mirra Andreeva.

"It was one of the weirdest matches I played," said Swiatek on court.

"Madi was playing perfectly at the beginning. I just tried to play a bit shorter, put the ball in. I just stayed in there."

Swiatek is famous for dishing out 6-0 sets and it was unusual for the five-time Grand Slam champion to be on the receiving end of one.

"It didn't feel good. At least it's fast, you know, but that's the only positive thing," she said.

Swiatek had a frustrating start to the match, going down a triple-break 0-5 on a loose forehand that could have been an easy winner into the open court.

The second seed trailed by a set in under 30 minutes and went off court for a toilet break to reset.

The script was flipped in the second set as Swiatek sailed to a 5-1 lead, but she couldn't close out the frame at the first time of asking, as Keys got one of the breaks back and narrowed her deficit to 3-5.

Swiatek didn't falter on her second chance, and successfully held serve in game nine to level the contest and force a decider.

Up to this point, the players never showcased their A-game at the same time but the third set was a different story, as Swiatek and Keys both stepped things up.

It was Swiatek who drew first blood, breaking for a 3-2 advantage, and the 23-year-old pounced again in game seven to advance.

Meanwhile on Arantxa Sanchez stadium, Novak Djokovic's conqueror Matteo Arnaldi earned multiple top-20 wins in one event for the first time by knocking out 16th-seeded Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-5 to move into the Madrid quarter-finals.

The Italian world number 44 will take on Jack Draper or Tommy Paul for a place in the final four.

P.Tamimi--SF-PST