Iga Swiatek overwhelms Emma Navarro to advance to Australian Open semifinals

Iga Swiatek's latest lopsided win at the Australian Open came via a 6-1, 6-2 score in the quarterfinals against No. 8 seed Emma Navarro on Wednesday in Melbourne.

The No. 2-seeded Swiatek not only has not dropped a set so far in the tournament, but also has lost a grand total of only 14 games as she seeks her first title at Melbourne Park and sixth Grand Slam trophy overall. The last woman to make it to the Australian Open semifinals having ceded fewer than 15 games was Maria Sharapova back in 2013.

"I'm really happy with the tournament overall," said Swiatek, who will face No. 19 Madison Keys of the U.S. on Thursday night for a berth in the final. "Being in the semis is great. I'll push for more."

Swiatek benefited from what appeared to be a missed double-bounce on a point she won in the second set, but Navarro did not immediately ask for a video review. Either way, Swiatek's dominance was pretty clear, even if she was modest about things afterward.

"Well, I think it was much more tougher than the score says," said Swiatek, a 23-year-old from Poland. "Emma's a fighter ... and I wanted to stay focused and keep my intensity."

The other women's semifinal is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, against her good friend, No. 11 Paula Badosa.

Keys, whose best showing at a major was getting to the title match at the 2017 U.S. Open, was a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against Elina Svitolina and is into her third semifinal in Australia.

"Madison is a great player and experienced, so you never know," said Swiatek, who is 4-1 against the 29-year-old Keys. "I'll be just focused on myself."

Using a new racket this season, Keys is on a 10-match winning streak, including a title at a hard-court tuneup event in Adelaide. Her run to the semifinals in Melbourne includes victories over two past runners-up at the Australian Open, Danielle Collins and Elina Rybakina.

Keys' past losses in the semifinals in Melbourne came against eventual champions Serena Williams in 2015 and Ash Barty in 2022.

"I think I play a little bit smarter for sure ... probably a little bit less fearless," Keys said.

Svitolina, a three-time Slam semifinalist, was in control during the first set. But Keys made some tactical adjustments, including looking for more opportunities to get to the net. She won 23 of the 26 points when she moved forward and ended up with a total of 49 winners, 23 on her powerful forehand side.

The one difficulty Keys had was getting going in her return games. But she finally converted her seventh break chance to lead 4-2 in the second set.

"Iga is tough to beat, because she has a lot of spin, kind of naturally, on both sides. She's a good server. She's a good returner. She moves incredibly well," Keys said, looking ahead to Thursday. "The biggest thing that makes her so difficult to beat is, because she moves so well, if you miss your spot just slightly, she has enough time to recover, and then the point goes back to neutral."

Shelton moves on to face Sinner

Ben Shelton's Australian Open quarterfinal foe, Lorenzo Sonego, produced the shot of the tournament — diving to his left for a volley with so much spin that the ball bounced on one side of the net, then floated back over to the other — but it was the American who ended up with the victory.

The left-handed Shelton did some entertaining of his own, including earning cheers by doing a couple of push-ups after tumbling in the concluding tiebreaker, and he reached his second Grand Slam semifinal at age 22 by beating the unseeded Sonego 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (4).

"I'm relieved," said Shelton, who will meet No. 1 Jannik Sinner of Italy on Friday for a spot in the final. "Shout out Lorenzo Sonego because that was some ridiculous tennis."

Sinner, the defending champion at Melbourne Park, completely overwhelmed the last Australian in the men's bracket, No. 8 Alex de Minaur, by a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 scoreline at night.

Sinner looked and played much better than he did — hand trembling, head dizzy — during a four-set struggle against Holger Rune in the fourth round.

After giving himself a bit of a break on Tuesday, sleeping in and only hitting on court for about 30 or 40 minutes, Sinner said his body was much better.

"[On] days like this, [when] you break quite early in each set, it's a bit easier," said Sinner, who stretched his winning streak to 19 matches dating back to last season, and improved to 10-0 against de Minaur over their careers.

Shelton, who is seeded 21st, closed the first set against Sonego with a 232 km/h ace, tied for the fastest serve over the past 1 1/2 weeks, and flexed his left arm after smacking a powerful forehand to close a 22-stroke point and earn a break in the second. His father Bryan, a former tour pro who is Ben's coach, grinned, too, while patting his own right biceps.

A few points from the end, Shelton sprinted to get his racket on a seemingly unreachable ball, and fell into a courtside advertising board as Sonego hit an easy winner to take the point.

Shelton stayed on the ground for a bit, then earned applause for his effort — and post-fall calisthenics.

When Shelton closed things with a 26th forehand winner — he had zero via backhands — he flexed again and sneered until his expression morphed into a smile.

At his news conference, Shelton offered some unprompted comments critical of some of the people handling on-court post-match interviews.

As good as Shelton is with his serves and forehands, his improving return game is a significant part of what carried him to the final four at the Australian Open for the first time.

He did just enough in that department, accumulating 11 break points and converting three, against Sonego, an Italian ranked 55th. Shelton entered the match coming through on 52% of his break chances, the highest rate among the eight men's quarterfinalists.

Shelton lost to Novak Djokovic in the 2023 U.S. Open semifinals.

The other semifinal will be Djokovic vs. No. 2 Alexander Zverev. Djokovic continued his pursuit of an 11th Australian Open title, and unprecedented 25th major trophy, by overcoming a leg injury and Carlos Alcaraz 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 in a quarterfinal that began Tuesday night and ended at nearly 1 a.m. on Wednesday.

The crowd-pleasing factor was high for Shelton vs. Sonego, who never before had made it this far at a major.

Sonego went 67-for-90 on trips to the net, and his highlight-reel volley came at the outset of the second set. It was so remarkable that Shelton acknowledged the effort by offering a congratulatory handshake.

There was another terrific shot by Sonego in the fourth set, when he raced with his back to the net and spun to hit a hook shot of sorts that resulted in a winner.

It's Shelton, though, who will get to keep playing in Melbourne this year.