GERMANY: Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, the top two tennis players in the world, both advanced to the semifinals of the WTA 500 Stuttgart Grand Prix with 2-1 comeback victories.
Sabalenka, the second seed, overcame a set and a break to overcome Spaniard Paula Badosa, a wildcard, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, and advance to the semifinals for the third consecutive year. Following two consecutive runner-up finishes, the 2023 Australian Open winner is going for her first Stuttgart victory. In six competitions so far this year, Sabalenka has reached four semifinals. After defeating France's Caroline Garcia, the fourth seed, 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, Anastasia Potapova, ranked 24th in Russia, will be her next opponent.
Sabalenka remarked, "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." This was in reference to breaking back for 4-4 in the second set. Who knows what will transpire in the third set? That particular game was undoubtedly important. Potapova, 22, had never advanced past the WTA 500 level quarterfinals.
Swiatek, the defending champion, defeated 2018 champion Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 to advance to the semifinals, where she will play third seed Ons Jabeur of Tunisia.
After just 17 minutes, Pliskova jumped out to a 4-0 lead by taking advantage of Swiatek's sluggish start. But Swiatek eventually found her groove and turned the match around by using Pliskova's serve.
Overall, I felt like I wasn't really able to focus at first, Swiatek remarked. These are incredibly important milliseconds when she is serving. I believe that at the conclusion of the first set, I was already playing good tennis, but it was kind of too late to tie the match.
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