Australian Open 2025: Iga Swiatek brings clay-like dominance Down Under

The Pole chased a drop shot and caught it after a second bounce, and despite the availability of the video review system, since Navarro continued the point and lost, the umpire could not go back and change its result. The strange occurrence caused a mini-debate on the minute eccentricities of tennis’s rulebook, but the result was under no dispute.

Swiatek came to Melbourne after silently serving a one-month ban after successfully appealing that her failed test was caused by accidental contamination of her sleeping medication. She had lost the World No. 1 ranking and underwent a backroom change, hiring the experienced Belgian Wim Fisette as coach.

With three consecutive French Open titles and four of her five Major trophies coming at Roland Garros, Swiatek has already established herself as an all-time great claycourter. But her failure to convert her clay dominance to the other Majors has been a telling feature of her young career. She may only be 23, but for her to have failed to even reach the semifinals in Melbourne, London or New York over two full seasons as the top seed has felt like an underachievement.

Call it the result of an easy draw, or a fresh, recharged start under a coach who knows what he is doing – Fisette has coached Kim Clijsters and Naomi Osaka to titles in Melbourne in the past – but things have fallen into place perfectly in Melbourne so far.

Among the most violent ball strikers in women’s game, Swiatek’s first-strike aggression and her consistency from the baseline make it almost impossible to cope with her when she is in the ascendancy – in Melbourne, she is yet to drop more than two games in a set since her first round. The Pole bases that game around her dominant forehand, and while her extreme western grip enjoys full control on slow clay, quicker hard courts have been where power-hitters rush her, and when the going gets tough, the errors begin to leak.

Her allergy to losing any games or points has stopped that from happening in Melbourne so far – the serve-to-forehand transition on her grip seems marginally quicker too. The dominance has propelled her to become the favourite for the title.

“I wasn’t going so deep in grand slams so much, except Roland Garros. For sure now I’m happy that I’m kind of playing my level here,” she said after her quarterfinal victory. This year I felt like I should just focus on work and kind of have the same mindset as on practices: just improving point by point. It has been working.”

Keys and Sabalenka hover

If her game looks commanding, it is her grit that remains untested. And grit is among the few things she can be sure to expect from her upcoming opponent, Madison Keys, in the semifinal on Thursday.

Keys beat Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to extend her 2025 winning streak to 10 matches. The American has shown the fight to go the distance and prevail in three sets thrice in five matches already, including in her impressive comeback win over fifth seed Elena Rybakina. If dragged to uncomfortable places, Swiatek may let her level drop, and Keys has shown she is well-placed to take advantage

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka will continue her bid for a third successive title in Melbourne as she takes on Paula Badosa in the other semifinal on Thursday.

Sabalenka entered the tournament as the heavy favourite, and while showing impressive resolve to keep the march alive, has shown signs of stumbling across her five matches – even having to come back from a break down in the deciding set in her quarterfinal against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Sabalenka and Swiatek, the two best players in the world, have also produced some of the most enthralling women’s tennis in recent years. If they stay on course, a potential faceoff between the top two seeds would make for a blockbuster final on Saturday. But given their routes to the summit clash, the winning odds may swap around.