Australian Open 2025
Dates: January 12-26 Place: Melbourne Park
Blanket: Live radio commentary on Tennis Breakfast from 07:00 GMT on BBC 5 Sports Extra, as well as live text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app.
Iga Swiatek lost just three matches as she overtook Emma Navarro to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open and continue her quest for a maiden title in Melbourne.
Swiatek, a five-time major winner, was merciless in a 6-1 6-2 win over eighth-seeded Navarro.
Swiatek has only lost 14 matches at Melbourne Park this year – and seven of them came in his first round match.
The Pole will face Madison Keys in the last four after the American came back from a set down to beat Elina Svitolina.
Keys will have to do his best to beat Swiatek, who dominated against the highly rated Navarro.
Swiatek broke at love in the first service game of the match and completed the first set in 36 minutes.
However, there was controversy at 2-2 in the second set when the referee failed to spot a double bounce at a crucial moment.
The ball bounced twice before Swiatek, with the advantage on her serve, launched a winning shot, but referee Eva Asderaki-Moore missed it.
Navarro protested but was unable to use video technology – which would have shown a replay of the footage – because she had continued to play the point, instead of stopping it.
Swiatek then got a break in the next game and ran away with the match to match her best finish at Melbourne Park.
Swiatek’s superiority – the statistics
Swiatek’s dominance on clay is no secret, with the Pole having won four of the last five French Open titles.
But she has struggled on Melbourne’s fast hard courts, having only made it past the fourth round once before this year.
Under new coach Wim Fissette, Swiatek has been ruthless.
Only three players in the Open era have lost fewer matches than Swiatek’s 14 en route to the final four in Melbourne.
She hasn’t lost a single serve game in her last four matches, and so far, none of her matches have lasted more than 90 minutes.
If Swiatek reaches the final – and top seed Sabalenka loses her semi-final on Thursday – the 23-year-old would regain the world No. 1 spot.
Should both players advance to a tantalizing championship match, Sabalenka would have to win the title for the third year in a row to stay at the top of the rankings.
Keys continues his winning streak
Earlier, Keys continued her fine form with a 3-6 6-3 6-4 victory over Svitolina.
Keys is on a 10-match winning streak and won the Adelaide Open title a fortnight ago.
The 29-year-old is hoping to reach her second Grand Slam final, after losing to close friend Sloane Stephens at the 2017 US Open.
She was broken late by Svitolina in a tight first set and struggled through a tricky first service game in the second before charging into the match.
Keys earned crucial breaks midway through both sets to defeat the Ukrainian and reach a third Australian Open semi-final.
Swiatek leads the head-to-head between the two 4-1 – but Keys won their last hard-court meeting in Cincinnati in 2022.
“Madison is a great player and very experienced, so you never know,” Swiatek said.
“The match I lost, she kind of killed me, so I think it can be tricky.”
