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Iga Świątek is in the semifinals of the Australian Open for the first time
Photo: Tertius Pickard / dpa
A good 15 months after her French Open title, Polish tennis player Iga Świątek has the chance of her second Grand Slam final at the Australian Open.
With the hard-fought 4: 6, 7: 6 (7: 2), 6: 3, the top ten player ended the surprising winning streak of Estonian Kaia Kanepi in the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
After 3:01 hours, Świątek converted her second match point and made it into the semi-finals of the Australian Open for the first time.
"This match was crazy," said Świątek after the duel with a few twists: "She played so great." In 2020, the Pole amazed and made a name for herself as a teenager because she unexpectedly secured the French Open title.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the French Open was moved to autumn at the time.
The 20-year-old kept her nerves against Kanepi even after falling behind in the set and losing a 4-1 lead in the second round.
Despite a partially unsafe serve and twelve double faults, she prevailed.
The world number 115.
Kanepi had thrown Angelique Kerber out of the tournament in Melbourne a week ago.
Collins defeats Cornet
Świątek will now play USA's Danielle Collins on Thursday to reach the final.
Collins repeated her best-ever Grand Slam result from 2019 when she also made it to the semifinals of the Australian Open.
7: 5, 6: 1 she defeated the unseeded French player Alizé Cornet.
Cornet was in the top eight for the first time in her 63rd Grand Slam tournament.
For Collins it is also a special success because of physical problems in the past year.
"It feels incredible, especially after the health challenges I've had," said the 30th in the world rankings.
Two years ago she defeated Kerber in the round of 16 in Melbourne, but missed the final in the semi-finals by losing to the Czech Petra Kvitová.
This time, after Madison Keys, the 28-year-old was the second American to reach the semi-finals.
Keys, the 2017 US Open finalist, will fight against the Australian world number one Ashleigh Barty for a place in the final on Thursday (9.30 a.m. German time / TV: Eurosport).
mfu/dpa