Iga Swiatek booked her second Australian Open semi-final with another stunning display on Wednesday, while Americans reached the last four of the men’s and women’s singles at Melbourne Park for the first time in 16 years.

Polish world number two Swiatek crushed eighth seed Emma Navarro 6-1 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena and will battle another American in Madison Keys, who overhauled Elina Svitolina 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the earlier quarter-final.

Ben Shelton wore down Italian Lorenzo Sonego 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-6(4) in a highlight-laden clash at the end of the day session to reach his first semi-final at the year’s first Grand Slam.

Shelton, who will meet the winner of Jannik Sinner and Alex De Minaur for a place in the final, ensured the United States has players in the men’s and women’s semis for the first time since Andy Roddick and Serena Williams in 2009.

Searching for her first Grand Slam title, Keys will be hard-pressed to go further than Swiatek, who has crushed all five of her opponents at this tournament and is the only woman in the semis to avoid dropping a set.

A throbbing ball of energy from the first point to the last, the five-times Grand Slam champion broke Navarro to love in the first game and was not prepared to concede a point — even when good sportsmanship might have warranted it.

In the fifth game of the second set and under pressure on serve, Swiatek bolted forward to retrieve a drop shot that bounced twice before her racket scooped it up.

Play went on, though, with Swiatek winning both the point and the game with a passing shot, leaving Navarro to remonstrate fruitlessly with the chair umpire.

Having not stopped the rally to dispute the call, Navarro had no recourse to challenge the non-call — and Swiatek was not about to give the U.S. Open semi-finalist a break.

“Honestly, I didn’t see the replay after this point because … I wanted to stay focused and didn’t want this point to stay in my head for a longer period of time,” Swiatek told reporters.

Most eyes have been focused on the top half of the women’s draw, where favourite and double defending champion Aryna Sabalenka booked a semi-final with Paula Badosa on Tuesday.

But it may be the free-swinging Swiatek in pole position for the title, having lost only 14 games in her five matches.

FEARLESS

Keys had earlier blasted into a third Australian Open semi-final with characteristic aggression, 10 years after making her first at Melbourne Park.

“To be here 10 years later in the semi-finals again, I’m really proud of myself and really excited to play another semi- final here in Melbourne,” said Keys, also a semi-finalist in 2022.

The 29-year-old from Rock Island, Illinois had lost the last two of her three Grand Slam match-ups with Svitolina, most recently in the fourth round of the 2019 U.S. Open.

And she appeared set for another setback as the counter-punching Ukrainian took full advantage of Keys’ early waywardness on a cool and breezy morning.

Keys dropped serve in the eighth game with an unforced error and then gifted the set with another error as Gael Monfils nodded approval at his wife Svitolina from the player’s box.

Keys raised her game, though, breaking Svitolina in both the final sets while staying rock-solid on serve.

Shelton, the 21st seed, is the last American in the men’s singles draw, having carried on after the third round demise of U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz and the quarter-final exit of 12th seed Tommy Paul.

Donning a white headband and a technicolour outfit, 22-year-old Shelton brought a matching attitude to centre court as he yelled his way to victory in the first two sets and often cheered Sonego’s mistakes.

Unseeded Italian Sonego mounted a spirited fightback to push the game deep into a fourth set but faltered in the tiebreak.

Shelton wrapped up the match with a booming crosscourt forehand and high-fived his ecstatic father-coach Bryan Shelton, a former ATP title-winner.

“I feel relieved right now. Shout out to Lorenzo Sonego — that was ridiculous tennis,” said Shelton.

“It was one of the favourite matches of my career.”

Defending champion Sinner will look to reach his second semi-final at Melbourne Park against home hope and eighth seed De Minaur in the evening match at Rod Laver Arena.

(Additional reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar and Lidia Kelly in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)