Swiatek recovers from 0-6 start to beat Keys and set up Madrid semifinal vs. Gauff

MADRID (AP) — Iga Swiatek survived "one of the weirdest matches" after losing the first six games and recovering to defeat Madison Keys 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 and stay on track to defend her title at the Madrid Open on Wednesday. The second-ranked Swiatek will face Coco Gauff in the semifinals after the 21-year-old American beat teenager Mirra Andreeva in straight sets in the youngest WTA 1000 quarterfinal since 2009. Swiatek was overpowered by Keys early in their quarterfinal but eventually found a way to rally past the fifth-ranked American on center court. "It was one of the weirdest matches I played," Swiatek said. "Maddie was playing just perfectly at the beginning and I wasn't really proactive with anything. I let Maddie do more mistakes by just putting the ball back and the momentum changed." Swiatek said of going down 0-6 at the start of the match: "At least it was fast, that's the only positive think." It was the first meeting between the two since Swiatek squandered a match point in the semifinals of the Australian Open that was won by Keys. Swiatek is trying to reach her third straight Madrid final. She beat Aryna Sabalenka last year after losing to her in 2023. Top-ranked Sabalenka needed two tiebreakers to advance, beating Marta Kostyuk 7-6 (4), 7-6 (7). Sabalenka will face 17th-seeded Elina Svitolina for a spot in the final. Svitolina beat Moyuka Uchijima 6-2, 6-1. Gauff beats Andreeva Gauff, ranked No. 4, who got past seventh-ranked Mirra Andreeva 7-5, 6-1. Andreeva turned 18 on Tuesday. Since the introduction of the WTA 1000 tier, only the 2009 Indian Wells quarterfinal between Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Agnieszka Radwanska had a younger combined age, the WTA said. Gauff recovered after being down a break at 5-4 in the first set. She faced two set points. "Off the ground I think I was dictating most of the rallies, so happy with that," Gauff said. "Overall happy with everything." Both Gauff and Andreeva had been able to finish their matches in the previous round just before play was paused because of the major blackout that brought Spain and Portugal to a standstill on Monday. More than 20 matches had to be postponed at the Caja Magica tennis complex. Arnaldi keeps going Matteo Arnaldi backed up his victory over Novak Djokovic in the second round of the men's draw by defeating Frances Tiafoe 6-3, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinals of an ATP 1000 tournament for the second time. Arnaldi now has three consecutive wins against top 20 opponents for the first time in his career. The Italian will next face Jack Draper, who advanced by beating Tommy Paul 6-2, 6-2 in 68 minutes. The sixth-ranked Draper clinched his maiden ATP 1000 title in Indian Wells this year.