Coco Gauff arrived on the court on Thursday ready to dominate at the Mutua Madrid Open semifinals. The American tennis star faced Iga Swiatek, notably the Queen of Clay and an opponent Gauff has struggled against in her career.
But, Gauff far from struggled against Swiatek on Thursday, beating the five-time major champion 6-1, 6-1 in just 64 minutes on clay. Gauff has now won over Swiatek in their last three meetings to raise their head-to-head record to 11-3 in Swiatek's favor.
Gauff sounded really confident with her play after the match, which is something she may not be used to feeling after competing against Swiatek. She knows how the 23-year-old can climb her way back.
"I think the mentality that I had the whole match,” Gauff said. “I was aggressive and played with margin. Maybe it wasn’t her best level. ... At any moment she can come back and play great tennis, so for me it was just making sure my level stayed the same and actually trying to raise it. I knew in that second set I had to raise it, especially because you know she could come back. I'm really happy with how I played."
Coco Gauff on beating Swiatek in Madrid
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) May 1, 2025
“Maybe it wasn’t her best level, but I think I forced her into some awkward positions.”
“When you’re playing someone like Iga, you know at any moment she can come back & play great tennis” pic.twitter.com/wRNIHDe3Ce
Gauff has a lot to be happy about with how she played on Thursday. After Swiatek won the opening game, Gauff went on to win 11 straight games and only dropped one more game the rest of the match. The American dominated with her first serves, only losing two points off of them. She won a total of 57 out of the 83 points and never faced a break point versus Swiatek. Gauff had four unforced errors, while Swiatek had 21.
The 21-year-old will now head to the Madrid Open final where she'll be hoping to end her clay court title drought. She's won a single clay court title in her professional career at the Emilia-Romagna Open in 2021. She lost the French Open title to Swiatek in 2022.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Coco Gauff Confident With Her Play After Dominating Iga Swiatek on Clay.
