Swiatek beats Keys to reach semifinals in Madrid

Iga Swiatek has been far from her invincible self at the Mutua Madrid Open. As she progressed to the quarterfinals here, she uncharacteristically dropped sets to younger players Alexandra Eala and Diana Shnaider.

And then came Wednesday’s shocker. Swiatek is an accomplished baker — her bagels are world-renowned — but No. 5 seed Madison Keys took the first set, 6-0, in a scant 24 minutes.

Swiatek, however, is a four-time Roland Garros champion for a number of significant reasons. The World No. 2 wins nearly 90 percent of her matches on clay and on Wednesday, those instincts kicked in on the way to a 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.

The triumph sent Swiatek into Thursday’s semifinals against the winner of the intriguing later match between No.4 Coco Gauff and No. 7 Mirra Andreeva.

“Honestly, it was one of the weirdest matches I’ve ever played,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I didn’t feel like [the first set] was that bad. I felt the ball well — it just went super long.

“I tried to play a bit shorter, and with some mistakes by Maddy, the momentum changed in the end. I’m happy that I did it.”

Swiatek now leads the head-to-head 5-2 — and she’s 4-0 on clay against Keys.

This is Swiatek’s 20th semifinal in 36 WTA 1000 appearances. She’s only the third player to win her first six completed clay-court quarterfinals in those elite events, joining Serena Williams and Simona Halep.

The last time they played, Keys took down World No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals of the Australian Open. She went on to win her first Grand Slam singles title, beating World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the final.