Sun. Nov 24th, 2024
Occasional Digest - a story for you

World number one Iga Swiatek breezed into a second straight Madrid Open final with a comfortable victory against Madison Keys.

A dominant Swiatek needed just 70 minutes to wrap up a 6-1 6-3 win against the American 18th seed.

The Pole, who is bidding for a third title of 2024, finished runner-up to Aryna Sabalenka in Madrid last year.

Belarusian second seed Sabalenka will set up a repeat of the 2023 final if she defeats Elena Rybakina later on Thursday.

Swiatek, 22, controlled her match against Keys from the offset as she raced to a 3-0 lead in the opening set, dropping only three of the first 17 points.

The four-time Grand Slam champion, who is a clay-court specialist, broke and consolidated to go 3-1 up in the second set before striking again on Keys’ serve at 5-3 to reach her third WTA 1,000 final this season.

Keys, a US Open finalist in 2017, could not capitalise on the few chances she had, missing out on three break points and making 28 unforced errors to Swiatek’s eight.

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