Stuttgart, Germany: World’s top two tennis players Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus both reached the semifinals after 2-1 comeback wins here at the WTA 500 Stuttgart Grand Prix.
Second seed Sabalenka came from a set and a break down to defeat wildcard Paula Badosa of Spain 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and reach the semifinals for the third straight year. The 2023 Australian Open champion is seeking her first Stuttgart title after two consecutive runner-up showings, reports Xinhua.
It’s Sabalenka’s fourth semifinal in six tournaments so far this year. She will next face 24-ranked Russian Anastasia Potapova, who upset fourth seed Caroline Garcia of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.
Speaking of breaking back for 4-4 in the second set, Sabalenka said, “I was just talking to myself and saying, just try one more time, try to put the ball back, and then run and move and try to win this game and probably you can win this set. Then who knows what’s gonna happen in the third set? Definitely, that game was the key game.”
Potapova, 22, had never gone beyond the quarterfinals at WTA 500 level or above.
Defending champion Swiatek will face third seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia in the semis after beating 2018 champion Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Taking advantage of a slow start from Swiatek, Pliskova raced out to a 4-0 lead after just 17 minutes. But Swiatek gradually found her rhythm and took advantage of Pliskova’s serve to overturn the match.
“Overall I felt like at the beginning I couldn’t really focus,” Swiatek said. “When she’s serving, these are like really milliseconds that matter. So I feel like I was playing already good tennis at the end of the first set, but it was already too late kind of to even the score.”
–IANS