MADRID: Coco Gauff overpowered defending champion Iga Swiatek 6-1, 6-1 to reach the Madrid Open singles final for the first time Thursday.
Gauff broke Swiatek’s serve three times in the first set and twice in the second to cruise to a 64-minute semifinal victory over the second-ranked Swiatek at the clay-court tournament.
Gauff will face top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka, who defeated Elina Svitolina 6-3, 7-5 to reach the Madrid final for the fourth time in her career.
It was Gauff’s first win over Swiatek on clay.
“The mentality that I had in the whole match was aggressive,” the fourth-ranked Gauff said. “Maybe it wasn’t her best level today, but I think I forced her into some awkward positions.”
Swiatek had recovered from losing the first set 0-6 to Madison Keys on Wednesday.
“I couldn’t really get my level up,” the four-time French Open champion said. “Coco played good, but I think it’s on me that I didn’t really move well, I wasn’t ready to play back the shots with heaviness, and with that kind of game. It was pretty bad.”
The last time Swiatek won only two or fewer games in a match — on any surface — was a 6-0, 6-2 loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Birmingham in 2019.
“For me,” Gauff added, “it was just making sure my level stayed the same. In the second, I raised it.”
Sabalenka reaches 3rd straight final
Sabalenka returned to the final after ending Svitolina’s unbeaten run on clay this year — she was 9-0 on the surface in 2025, without losing a set.
Sabalenka won the title in Madrid in 2021 and 2023, and was runner-up to Swiatek last year.
Gauff is 5-4 against Sabalenka and won their only prior meeting on clay, in Rome in 2021. The American also won their most recent meeting, at the 2024 WTA Finals in Riyadh.
By beating Svitolina, Sabalenka became the first player to obtain 30 main-draw wins at WTA events in 2025.
Men’s quarterfinals
In the men’s quarterfinals, Casper Ruud advanced by defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-5 to become the first player born in 1990 or later to reach 30 tour-level semifinals on clay.
The 15th-ranked Norwegian had been 0-3 against Medvedev in his career.
“I looked at our stats last night and saw he beat me on grass, outdoor hard and indoor hard. The last surface was clay so I thought, ‘please don’t make it 4-0,’” Ruud said. “I tried to use the surface to my advantage. I thought the level was pretty good from both players, I was impressed with Daniil’s ability to produce power here on clay.”
Ruud will next face Francisco Cerundolo, who rallied to defeat teenager Jakub Mensik 3-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Cerundolo had beaten top-seeded Alexander Zverev in the previous round.
In another quarterfinal, fifth-ranked Jack Draper defeated Matteo Arnaldi 6-0, 6-4. Arnaldi had beaten Novak Djokovic in the second round. Draper will enter the top 5 in the rankings for the first time thanks to his run in Madrid. He will face 10th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti, who beat Gabriel Diallo 6-4, 6-3.
