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Swiatek racks up 26th straight win to reach last four at Italian Open

By Paul Myers - RFI
Tennis AP - Jim Rassol
MAY 13, 2022 LISTEN
AP - Jim Rassol

World number one Iga Swiatek notched up her 26th consecutive win on Friday to advance to the semi-final of the Italian Open in Rome.

The 20-year-old Pole beat Bianca Andreescu 7-6, 6-0 to move a step closer to emulating Serena Williams run of 27 straight wins in 2015.

In a see-saw opening set, Swiatek took a 2-0 lead before Andreescu won three on the trot herself.

In the tiebreak at 6-6, Swiatek surged into a 6-2 lead and wrapped up the fshoot-out with a backhand winner.

It was one way traffic in the second set. Swiatek took 12 of the first 14 points to surge into a 3-0 lead.

And she underlined her credentials to add the 2022 French Open to her victory in Paris in 2020 win by showing no mercy to the 2019 US Open champion.

In Saturday's semi-final, she will face the third seed Aryna Sabalenka after she beat Amanda Anisimova in three sets.

In the men's draw, second seed Alexander Zverev and fourth seed Stefanso Tsitsipas advanced to a semi-final showdown after straight sets wins over Cristian Garin and Jannik Sinner respectively.

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