She saved her most dominant performance for the Caja Magica, where she had never been past the fourth round in four previous appearances. After dropping a 6-0 first set to Dayana Yastremska in her opening match, Gauff has adjusted to the high-altitude conditions with aplomb, scoring back-to-back victories over Belinda Bencic and No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva to book a rematch with Swiatek.
By contrast, the No. 2 seeded-Swiatek has struggled throughout her title defense, playing three three-setter against Alexandra Eala, Diana Shnaider, and Madison Keys. Though she has reached at least the quarterfinals in all of her 2025 tournament appearances, the five-time Grand Slam champion hasn’t reached a final of any tournament since 2024, whe she won her third straight Roland Garros title.
Swiatek had hoped to regain her momentum on her favorite surface, but was uncharacteristically overawed by Gauff, who broke serve in the third game of the match and never looked back, winning the next 11 straight games to find herself up a set and 5-0 in under an hour.
“You know at any moment she can come back and play great tennis,” Gauff said. “So, for me, it was just about making sure my level stayed the same and actually trying to raise it. I knew in the second set, I had to raise it because she could come back!”
