ROME, May 13 (Reuters) - Three-times Italian Open champion Iga Swiatek was at her ruthless best as she dismantled American fifth seed Jessica Pegula 6-1 6-2 to reach the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 clay-court tournament on Wednesday.
The Polish fourth seed, a six-time Grand Slam champion, picked up exactly where she left off after her emphatic win over Naomi Osaka in the previous round. Against Pegula, she raced to a 5-0 lead before the American managed to avoid a bagel.
Swiatek never loosened her grip on the match, conceding three games overall as the second set followed a similarly one-sided pattern.
She finished with 15 winners compared to Pegula's six.
The victory marks Swiatek's first win over a top-10 opponent this year and continues an encouraging upswing after she began working last month with Francisco Roig, the former coach of her idol Rafa Nadal.
"I feel much better," Swiatek said. "I have a lot of confidence in my shots. I used that from the beginning of the match today and kept putting pressure on Jessie, so I'm really happy with how I played."
A title in Rome would come as a timely lift for the 24-year-old ahead of the French Open, where the main draw gets underway on May 24. Swiatek had been forced to retire from her previous tournament, the Madrid Open, in the round of 32 due to illness, leaving the court in tears.
Her path has also opened up significantly in Rome. With world number one Aryna Sabalenka knocked out in the third round by Romania's Sorana Cirstea, Swiatek has a renewed opportunity to end a clay-court title drought stretching back to her 2024 French Open triumph.
She is targeting a fifth title at Roland Garros.
The first Rome semi-final is already set, with Cirstea to face two-times major winner Coco Gauff. Swiatek will take on the winner of the clash between Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina and Ukrainian seventh seed Elina Svitolina.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru;Editing by Christian Radnedge)
