Riyadh Rout: Swiatek Crushes Keys in WTA Finals Opener

By Richard Pagliaro | Saturday, November 1, 2025
Photo credit: WTA Finals Facebook

Iga Swiatek turned the purple Riyadh court into a black hole.

Madison Keys looked lost in space.

Competing with energy and urgency, Swiatek crushed Keys 6-1, 6-2 opening her quest for a second WTA Finals championship with a bang.

Swiatek scored her Tour-best 62nd win of the season to start round-robin play 1-0 in the Serena Williams Group of the eight-player WTA Finals.

Two years ago, Swiatek took the title without dropping a match. 

The second-seeded Swiatek commanded the center of the court today dismissing the American to avenge a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(8) semifinal loss to Keys in the Australian Open semifinals. It was Swiatek’s sixth win in eight meetings with Keys as she launched her quest for a 26th career title in imperious form.

Playing her first match since a surprising 7-6, 6-7, 5-7 US Open opening-round loss to Renata Zarazua, Keys could not shake the rust—or find the comfort zone with her new abbreviated service motion rather than her traditional full-loop backswing.

Hall of Famer and Tennis Channel analyst Lindsay Davenport, Keys’ former coach and long-time confidante, said the American did not make the serve motion change to protect a shoulder injury. Rather, Keys adopted the abbreviated motion to time the serve more effectively, Davenport said.

Swiatek surged through nine of the first 11 points snatching a 3-0 lead after a mere eight minutes of play.

A razor-sharp Swiatek raced through 20 of 23 points posting a 5-0 leaving Keys looking utterly shell-shocked just 15 minutes into the match.

The seventh-ranked Keys held at 30 to finally get on the board at 1-5. 

When Keys misfired on successive forehands, Swiatek wrapped up the lopsided opening set.

The former world No. 1 won 16 of 19 service points in an overwhelming 23-minute set.

Though Swiatek was in cruise control she created her first speed bump of the match double faulting twice and committing a pair of errors to gift-wrap the break back to Keys in the second game of set two.

When Keys coughed up a second double fault of the game, Swiatek broke again for 2-1. 

Keys couldn’t make inroads in the set though she saved two match points when Swiatek served for the win.

On her third match point, Swiatek sent a serve down the T closing in 61 minutes.