Birmingham
Swiatek shakes off disaster bagel start
Iga Swiatek bounced back after losing the opening set to love, with the second seed engineering a recovery effort to reach the semi-finals on Wednesday at the Madrid Masters.
The defending champion fought back from a bagel down for the second time in her career after beating Monica Puig in Paris six years ago.
Swiatek also lost sets to love in five past defeats: 2019 (Australian Open, Roland Garros and Birmingham), 2021 (Eastbourne) and 2023 (Dubai).
She needed an hour and three-quarters to defeat Madison Keys in a battle of current Grand Slam champions, winning 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her 10th straight at the event.
“It was one of the weirdest matches I’ve played. It was not good, (but) at least it (was) fast.”
The Pole was broken four times, with Australian Open holder Keys also saving a match point.
The four-time Roland Garros champion will be playing her 20th semi-final at the 1000 level from 36 draw appearances.
Swiatek covered her head with a towel on the changeover following the first-set disaster, likely plotting her turnaround strategy.