Top seed Iga Swiatek made light work of Madison Keys to book a place in back-to-back finals of the Madrid Open as she beat the American 6-1 6-3 after 70 minutes in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Heading into the contest having won two of their last three meetings, the 22-year-old Pole dominated from the start and wrapped up the opener in just over half an hour against the 18th seed.
The second set was no different with Keys causing little trouble to Swiatek, who lost last year’s final to world number two Aryna Sabalenka, as the world number one broke early and raced into a 5-3 lead before breaking again to secure the win.
Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion, is now the youngest player to reach 10 WTA level finals on clay since Swiss Martina Hingis in 2000.
Meanwhile, Czech Jiri Lehecka progressed to the semifinals of the Madrid Open on Thursday after world number four Daniil Medvedev quit the match with a groin problem after losing the first set.
Third seed Medvedev requested a medical time out due while leading 3-2 and continued to visibly struggle to move after coming back onto the court.
Lehecka, who knocked out Rafa Nadal in the last 16, then broke Medvedev to take a 4-5 lead and took the set 6-4 before Medvedev told the umpire he could not continue the match.
Lehecka will face Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime in the semifinals on Friday.
The 23-year-old Canadian was due to face top seed Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals but the Italian pulled out from the tournament with a right hip injury on Wednesday.
Russian seventh seed Andrey Rublev will play Taylor Fritz, seeded 12th, in the other semifinal.