May 01, (THEWILL) – American tennis player, Coco Gauff, eliminated defending champion, Iga Swiatek, from the Madrid Open with a commanding 6-1 6-1 victory in Thursday’s semi-final. The match lasted just one hour and six minutes, with Gauff dominating throughout the contest.
World number two, Swiatek, who holds five Grand Slam titles, failed to generate a single break point opportunity during the encounter. The Polish star managed to save only two of the seven break points she faced against the determined 21-year-old American.
The defeat caps a difficult tournament for Swiatek, who experienced noticeable struggles throughout her title defence. The 23-year-old dropped sets against Alexandra Eala and Diana Shnaider in earlier rounds, and suffered a 6-0 set loss to Madison Keys on Wednesday before recovering to win that quarter-final match.
Gauff executed a flawless game plan, breaking Swiatek’s serve in the third, fifth, and seventh games to claim the opening set. She maintained her momentum in the second set with two additional service breaks before completing the victory by holding serve to love, marking her first win over Swiatek on clay courts.
The second semi-final features last year’s finalist Aryna Sabalenka against Elina Svitolina, with the winner advancing to face Gauff in the final.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
