Iga Swiatek maintained her ruthless run at the Australian Open after sealing her semi-final spot in style on Wednesday.
The five-time Grand Slam champion swept aside eighth seed Emma Navarro 6-1, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena to set-up a semi-final clash with Madison Keys.
Swiatek has been in sensational form at Melbourne Park, dropping just 14 games with seven of those coming in her first-round win over Katerina Siniakova.
“Madison is a great player and experienced so you never know,” Swiatek, who is looking to lift the Melbourne crown for the first time, said of her last-four opponent.
“It will be tricky, I will just be focused on myself. She has already played a good tournament here and we are well aware of how she can play.”
There was some controversy in her latest victory, though, when officials failed to spot a double bounce in front of a stretching Swiatak with the score at 2-2 in the second set.
Navarro requested the chair umpire use VAR to check what happened but was turned down after waiting until the end of the point, rather than stopping play and asking right away.
“It happened so fast,” Navarro said. “You hit the shot, and she hits it back, and you're just, like, 'Oh, I guess I'm playing'.
“It's tough. I think we should be able to see it afterwards and make that call.”
Keys, meanwhile, stormed back from a set down to beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in their quarter-final.
The American, who will be 30 next month, leads the WTA Tour with 12 wins this season and is on a 10-match unbeaten streak after lifting the Adelaide title.
The 19th seed is fully aware of the challenge ahead of her, though, if she wants to seal a spot in the final on her third attempt, having also reached the semis in 2015 and 2022.
“Iga is tough to beat because she has a lot of spin kind of naturally on both sides. She is a good server. She's a good returner. She moves incredibly well,” Keys said.
“There is just such a balance of being aggressive and trying to get her to move and going for things, but not pressing too hard and not going for anything too quickly.”
Two-time defending champion and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka plays Spain's 11th seed Paula Badosa in the other semi-final.
Another defending champion and world No 1 is looking in ominous form in the men's draw.
Jannik Sinner made short work of home hope Alex de Minaur with the Italian powering to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 victory.
He will meet American Ben Shelton for a place in Sunday's final against either 10-time champion Novak Djokovic or second seed Alexander Zverev.
“I feel like today I was feeling everything,” said Sinner, who showed no signs of the illness that hampered his win over Holger Rune in the last round.
“When you break so early in each set it's a bit easier. But he's a tough competitor, an amazing player. So many people came here for him tonight, but it was an amazing atmosphere.
“We know each other quite well. We played so many times, we know each other's game so we try to prepare in the best possible way. These matches can go quickly, but things can change fast.”
On his last-four opponent, Sinner added: “Last year we played some very tough matches.
“Obviously he's one of the best servers on tour, he's a lefty and all different rotation on the ball is coming.
“Hopefully I'm ready and I can return as many serves as possible, and then trying to stay very concentrated about my game like today and staying aggressive. We will see.”
Shelton, seeded 21, battled past unseeded Italian Lorenzo Sonego, 6-4, 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 to make the Melbourne Park last four for the first time.
“I feel so relieved right now,” the 22-year-old said after a quarter-final that lasted three hours and 50 minutes “Shout-out to Lorenzo because that was some ridiculous tennis.”
