America’s Madison Keys will be playing her first semifinal in Madrid. She defeated Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur in the quarterfinal on the Manolo Santana court on Tuesday (April 30).
Jabeur secured the first set easily, not letting the American win a single game. However, Keys prevailed in the second set 7-5 and eventually won the quarterfinal with a scoreline of 0-6, 7-5, 6-1.
In an interview with Tennis Channel, the 18th seed talked about how her fiancé Bjorn Fratangelo reacted to her serving speed. Keys said that though Fratangelo considered her shots to be incredible, she found them ordinary.
I don’t think I hit the ball that hard. Sometimes I am like that was okay and Bjorn will look at me, and he’s like, ‘That was 120 miles an hour. What are you talking about?’ I don’t know it felt average. Madison Keys said
Keys and Fratangelo have been in a relationship since 2017 and got engaged last year. They met in 2016 when they both stayed in Boca Raton.
Madison Keys will face Iga Swiatek in the semifinals
Madison Keys will next face World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals. En route to reaching the last four, Keys knocked out Irina-Camelia Begu, Liudmila Samsonova, and compatriot Coco Gauff, before beating Ons Jabeur.
Keys and Swiatek locked horns three times, with Swiatek leading the head-to-head record 2-1. Their first meeting was at the 2021 Rome Open which Swiatek won and went on to beat the American in their second encounter at the 2022 Indian Wells as well. However, the 29-year-old Amercian emerged as the winner in their last meeting at the 2022 Cincinnati Open, where Keys defeated the Pole in straight sets.
Keys started this year by playing at the Indian Wells Masters after recovering from a shoulder injury. The match against Swiatek will be the American’s first semifinal of the season. Swiatek, on the other hand, has won two titles, at the Qatar Open and the Indian Wells Masters. She defeated Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in three sets to progress into the last four. The Brazilian secured the first set but Swiatek pushed the match to the decider after beating Haddad Maia 6-0 in the second set.
Madrid is the only tournament on clay (WTA 1000 or above) that the Pole has not won. Last year, she could only make it to the Round of 16, losing to Ekaterina Alexandrova. The 22-year-old is formidable on the red dirt, having won three-time French Open titles already, in 2020, 2022, and 2023.
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