Coco Gauff sweeps Iga Swiatek to reach first Madrid final - ESPN

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.

«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.»

The win was Gauff's first on clay against Swiatek, who holds an 11-4 edge in their head-to-head history. Gauff is now 3-0 against Swiatek since the end of 2024 starting at the WTA Finals.

Swiatek had recovered from losing the first set 6-0 to Madison Keys on Wednesday. But she looked rattled Thursday and, in a rare lapse, was hit with a code violation for an audible obscenity.

Gauff will face either top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka or Elina Svitolina in the final.

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.

The Madrid Open