Gauff deals painful beating to an unrecognizable Swiatek

Jose Morón | 1 May 2025 | 17.04

Gauff delivers a painful beating to an unrecognizable Swiatek. Photo: Getty

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Strange image that Iga Swiatek offered us today in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open against Coco Gauff. The Polish player delivered a performance completely uncharacteristic of what she usually shows on this surface and left the Caja Mágica having even received some boos for what was seen in the second set. With a double 6-1, the American secured her spot in the Madrid final and will fight for the title this Saturday.

Since what happened to her at the end of last year, Iga is a different Iga. She appears much more vulnerable than in other times, winning her matches more with determination than tennis skills, and this is noticeable in a circuit that is hungry for victories. They see doubts in the player who, alongside Sabalenka, has dominated the circuit for a couple of seasons, and they want to take advantage of it.

This week in Madrid, Swiatek already hesitated against Eala, Schnaider, and Keys, and even though she came back to win all those matches, arriving with those doubts in her head against a player as solid as Gauff is too much to handle. It is no surprise to anyone that the first set went the way it did, with a frustrated Swiatek struggling to find advantages and winners, while an unstoppable Coco took the lead with ease.

It all starts with Iga's lack of punch in her returns. The Polish player's superiority on clay has always been based on her fantastic return game, which used to pressure her opponents and produce difficult-to-counter balls. In this first set, Gauff hit nearly 90% of points with her first serve. The world No. 2 tried but instead of winners, all she managed to do was accumulate errors. Add to that a lack of confidence from the baseline during the points, and you have a much less effective Swiatek.

From afar, Swiatek seems to be playing two matches at once: one against her opponent and the other battling against her own mind. That same mind that tells her that things are not flowing as before and pushes her to rush for winners. It's a vicious cycle. When things are not working, you want to quickly narrow the gap with your opponent, leading you to rush and make more errors than necessary. Iga can't seem to focus on either her opponent, Gauff, or herself.

This frustration bubbles up. She throws her racket, yells at her box, as if trying to blame the world for things not going well. Coco, very composed, sees Swiatek struggling and sticks to her game plan. She keeps putting the ball in play with intention, maintaining the pressure knowing that Iga will eventually make mistakes. Swiatek ended up with nearly 30 unforced errors. In just 14 games... quite a significant number.

In a way, it was painful to see a champion like Swiatek in such a state. She buried her face in the towel during exchanges, trying to shut out the surroundings, unsure if she was thinking about how to turn around what seemed impossible, or simply not wanting anyone to see her this way.

The second set was a complete collapse by Swiatek, piling up errors one after another, finishing the match in a hurry to leave as soon as possible and falling in the semifinals of a tournament where she was the defending champion. It's now two clay tournaments in this tour where Iga leaves without a title. She is yet to reach a final in this 2025 season and is losing ground to the leading pack. Gauff will face the winner of Sabalenka-Svitolina, while Swiatek only has the Rome Open left to regain her confidence before Paris.

This news is an automatic translation. You can read the original news, Paliza dolorosa de Gauff a una irreconocible Swiatek