Swiatek will face No. 19 Madison Keys of the U.S. on Thursday night for a berth in the final. The other women’s semifinal is No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, the two-time defending champion, against her good friend, No. 11 Paula Badosa.

Defending champion Jannik Sinner raced into the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday in imperious fashion after Iga Swiatek was equally ruthless to close on a first Melbourne crown. The other semi-final is between 10-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic and world number two Alexander Zverev,

The final match of the day saw American Learner Tien, playing in his first major outside of the U.S. Open, upset No. 5 seed Daniil Medvedev in a five-set classic, 6-3, 7-6, 6-7, 1-6, 7-6, that ended at 2:54 a.m. local time. Medvedev had reached three of the past four Australian Open finals, but could not fend off a ferocious Tien.