Sawt Falasteen - Madrid Open holder Swiatek thrashed by Gauff in semis

The Polish world number two and five-time Grand Slam winner could not force a single break point and dropped serve five times as she 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 Pole 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.

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

She secured two more breaks in the second set and wrapped up victory at the first time of asking, on serve to love.

Last year's runner-up Aryna Sabalenka faces in-form Elina Svitolina in the second semi-final later Thursday.

In the men's draw Casper Ruud reached the semi-finals with a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Daniil Medvedev.

The Norwegian ousted Taylor Fritz to reach the quarter-finals and secured his first win against the Russian in their fourth meeting.

Strong on clay, Ruud only converted two of his eight break points but it was enough to secure victory, with Medvedev, who dislikes the surface, not producing a single break.

Ruud put heavy pressure on Medvedev's serve in the first set, breaking in the fourth game and serving it out.

The second set featured just a single break point, earned and converted by Ruud in the 11th game, enabling him to serve for the match.

Medvedev made 33 unforced errors and committed four double faults on a disappointing afternoon for the world number 10.

Ruud, ranked 15th, will face Francisco Cerundolo in the final four after he edged past Jakub Mensik 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2.

Fifth seed Jack Draper faces Matteo Arnaldi and Lorenzo Musetti takes on Gabriel Diallo in the other quarter-finals.

M.Qasim--SF-PST