'You Need To Be Ruthless' - Iga Swiatek Storms Into Australian Open Semis To Book Showdown With Keys - UBITENNIS

‘You Need To Be Ruthless’ – Iga Swiatek Storms Into Australian Open Semis To Book Showdown With Keys

By Adam Addicott
7 Min Read
Iga Swiatek - Australian Open 2025 (X @AustralianOpen)

Iga Swiatek continues to charge through the Australian Open draw after dropping just three games in during her quarter-final clash with Emma Navarro on Wednesday.

Swiatek, who is seeking her maiden title in Melbourne, was on the court for just over 90 minutes during her 6-1, 6-2, victory over the world No.8. Hitting a total of 22 winners against 20 unforced errors and winning 82% of her first service points. She is only the second Polish player to have reached the last four in Melbourne on multiple occasions after Agnieszka Radwanska.

“I’m proud that I’ve been doing the same kind of work with good intensity and just pushing my opponents from the beginning of the matches,” said Swiatek.

“Today was tougher than the score says, but I’m happy that I’m in the semis.”

The world No.2 has been in clinical form in this year’s tournament where she has dropped only 14 games during her first five matches. To put this into perspective, only three players have dropped fewer games en route to the semi-finals of a 128-player draw at the Australian Open in the Open Era. They were Stefi Graf in 1989 (13), Monica Seles in 1991 (12) and Maria Sharapova in 2013 (nine).

“On a tennis court, you kind of need to be ruthless,” Swiatek explained.

“Ruthless usually means something negative but I think for me just focusing on myself and having the same kind of attitude no matter what the score is is important.”

“This is what I base my strength on and my consistency and the way I just continue to do the good things I do on court.

“Maybe it looks ruthless, but it’s not my goal to do that. I just want to win more and more games, and this is the effect I got for the past matches.”

Keys awaits

Next up for Swiatek in Melbourne will be a clash against an in-form Madison Keys who beat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Keys has won 12 out of 13 matches played so far in 2025, winning the Adelaide International earlier this month. It is the third time she has reached the last four in Melbourne after 2015 and 2022 but she is yet to make it through to the title match.

It feels great. I’m really, really proud of myself to be in another semi-final here and kind of hoping and looking forward to see if I can make it one step further,” Keys said afterwards.

“I’m getting to the point where I’m starting to appreciate my career for what it has been.

“I’ve done a really good job and I’ve really left everything out there.”

The American, who turns 30 next month, believes she is playing some of her best tennis on the Tour. She made her WTA debut in 2009 and played her first Grand Slam main draw two years later at the US Open.

“I think it’s a really great era of tennis right now because you can still be playing some of your best tennis as 30 is approaching and even past that,” she said.

“There’s just so many players now that are into their 30s and they’re playing some really great tennis.

“I think it’s really nice to see all of these people that I played juniors with that we’re still out here.”

The head-to-head

Heading into her next match, Swiatek has won four out of her five Tour-level meetings against Keys, including two last season that she won in straight sets. Keys’ only victory in their rivalry was on a hardcourt back in 2022 at the Cincinnati Open.

“She likes to play intense and pretty fast,” Swiatek said of Keys.

“She’s using her powers, especially on a faster hard court. I need to be ready for that, be proactive and also good in defense.

“I guess in semis if you play against any opponent, they deserve to be there, so it’s going to be tough no matter what, no matter who is on the other side of the net. So I’ll do my best.”

Swiatek will plot her tactics for the upcoming semi-finals with the help of her coach Wim Fisette, who has worked with numerous top names in women’s tennis. Fissette has also mentored Angelique Kerber, Victoria Azarenka, Naomi Osaka and Kim Clijsters.

As for Keys, she is coached by her husband Bjorn Fratangelo. Looking ahead to her next match, the world No.14 gave her views on what makes Swiatek so tough to beat.

“I think the biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is because since she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral.” Keys explained.

“I think it’s really hard to ever really get ahead in a point. I think for most of us out here, you are not really going to try to out-defend Iga.  

“So then there’s just such a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move and going for things, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly.

“I think she just does such a good job at making people start going for a little bit too much too quickly.”

Swiatek is the youngest female player to reach at least seven major semifinals since Sharapova in 2008.

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