World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has reached her first semifinal at the Mutua Madrid Open after defeating Croatia’s Petra Martic 6-0, 6-3. Martic had previously upset former Roland Garros champion and No.11 seed Barbora Krejcikova to earn her shot against Swiatek. Swiatek now moves on to face Veronika Kudermetova in the semifinals, who earlier knocked out No.3 seed and defending finalist Jessica Pegula.
Swiatek won the first seven games of the quarterfinal before Martic held to 30 in her first service game of the second set. Swiatek lost just eight points in the first set, and seven of those were on her serve. She hit 11 winners to just eight unforced errors and was perfect on break points converted, extending her winning streak on clay this spring to eight straight. Conversely, Martic committed 17 unforced errors to just eight winners.
Swiatek stated that she feels like she is playing better and better every day and she was happy to have the opportunity to play her first semifinal at the Mutua Madrid Open. Swiatek previously beat Martic 6-3, 6-1 at the BNP Paribas Open two years ago. The World No.1 improved to 19-2 in quarterfinal matches at WTA level in her career.
