Iga Swiatek couldn’t hide her delight after defeating Marketa Vondrousova 7-6(3) 6-1 to reach her maiden Cincinnati semi-final.
The world number one overcame a tight first set to defeat the Wimbledon champion and reach the last four in Cincinnati for the first time in her career.
Swiatek had to recover from a break down twice in the opening set but ended up breaking on five occasions to seal victory.
After the match Swiatek said she was happy about the win and was pleased with her decision making, “I’m really happy with my performance,” Swiatek told the WTA website.
“At the beginning, it wasn’t easy to get used to her lefty spin, but I’m happy that I kind of played better and better throughout the whole match. At the end, I was really solid.
“When she was serving on 5-4, I felt like I have space to kind of push and to get back to the game and break back. I did that. I’m happy that I … made good decisions and chose the right solutions to win these points. I think she also kind of made some mistakes. I think the most important is to use your opportunity, and I’m happy that I did that.
“In the tiebreaker, any point matter. I’m happy that I could kind of focus a little bit more. I already know what I have to play after these games that we played. I learned my lesson. I think I was more efficient.”
Swiatek’s efficiency paid off as she now faces either Jasmine Paolini or seventh seed Coco Gauff in the semi-finals.
The other semi-final will see Karolina Muchova take on either Ons Jabeur or Aryna Sabalenka after Marie Bouzkova retired after three games.
