Iga Swiatek. (Pic Credit – X)
The World No.2, who has dropped just 14 games in the tournament so far, is as crisp as a minted banknote. Keys, ranked 19, came through her quarterfinal encounter with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the No.28th seed Elina Svitolina . Keys’ 49 winners unlocked the contest after the American fell behind early in the match. Swiatek, who was on court for 89 minutes on Wednesday, eased past the No.8 seed Emma Navarro 6-1, 6-2 using her solid all-round game to outplay the American.
“Iga is tough to beat because she plays with a lot of spin on both sides, she’s a good server, returner and moves incredibly well,” the 29-year-old American said. “Most of us are not really going to try to out-defend Iga,” the American said. This is what I base my consistency on, the way I just continue to do the good things on the court,” the Pole said.
The Times of India in Melbourne: Iga Swiatek is where she should be in late January, in the semi-finals of the Australian Open . “The biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is, if you miss your spot even slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral. “So then there’s a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly. She does such a good job of making people start going for too much too quickly. Swiatek the hardest player in the women’s draw to put away, courtesy her solidity, could be tested by Keys’ aggressive play. “I think for me focusing on myself and having the same kind of attitude no matter what the score is important.
“On the tennis court, you kind of need to be ruthless,” she said, adding, “Maybe it looks ruthless, but it’s not my goal to do that. I just want to win more and more games.”