Iga Swiatek qualified for the semi-finals of the Australian Open 2022 after defeating the Estonian Kaia Kanepi with 2-1 (4:6, 7:6, 6:3). This is the best performance of the Polish player, who has one Grand Slam title from the French Open 2020, in this tournament.
Kaia Kanepi made 62 unforced errors and 4 double faults, which was the main reason for losing the match, which lasted more than 3 hours.
The first set was won by the Estonian player, who made only one break in the 7th game, but after that missed 9 setpoints in the last two games of the set. Finally, on the 10th setpoint, she succeeded and won the set with 4:6.
The second set started with the exchange for one break for each of the players. Iga Swiatek succeeded to make another break and took a lead of 4:1 in the set. And when everything was looking quite sure for her, Kaia Kanepi returned the break and won 3 consecutive games to equalize e the score to 4:4. Both players won their serving games til the end of the set and moved it into a tiebreak, which Iga Swiatek won peremptory with 7-2. Thus, the Polish player equalized the sets to 1-1.
In the third set, both players were quite tired and the hot weather affected their gameplay. Iga Swiatek broke the service of her opponent and took a lead with 2:0. Kaia Kanepi returned the break, but the Polish played again took a lead with 4:2. Iga Swiatek registered another break and made the result 5:2, serving for the match, but lost her serve. However, in the end, Iga Swiatek won the match at the service of Kaia Kanepi and qualified for the semifinals of the AO 2022.
Iga Swiatek will face Danielle Collins for the place on the final.
