No.1 seed Iga Swiatek and No.4 seed Maria Sakkari claimed their allotted spots in the J&T Banka Ostrava Open semifinals on Friday, setting a final four showdown between the two in Ostrava.
Top seed Swiatek of Poland defeated No.7 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, 7-6(5), 6-2, to book her place in the semifinals. In the first meeting between the Top 20 players, Swiatek needed an hour and 41 minutes to hold off the challenge from Rybakina and make her first semifinal since her title run at Rome in early May.
Stat corner: Swiatek was stellar behind her first serve, winning over three-quarters of those points, but less so on her second serve, where Rybakina took charge and claimed 61 percent of points. Ultimately, Swiatek was able to get a strong 72 percent of first serves into play, helping her along to victory.
Key moments: In an aggressive tussle, it was Swiatek who grabbed the early 3-1 lead before Rybakina gritted out a challenging service break with a rally crosscourt backhand to level the opening set at 3-3. Swiatek, though, kept the Kazakh at bay with powerful groundstrokes from both sides, and an easy hold for 6-6 by the Pole set up a first-set tiebreak.
Strong serving by both players kept the breaker competitive, with Swiatek claiming the first set point at 6-5 after consecutive unreturned deliveries. The top seed converted that chance, staying sturdy through a lengthy rally until Rybakina sent a backhand miscue wide. Despite having fewer winners than Rybakina and an equal amount of unforced errors, Swiatek swiped the set.
With the momentum behind her, Swiatek charged ahead 5-1 in the second set, although Rybakina clawed one break back in that game, edging to 5-2 with a backhand winner down the line on break point. But the big Swiatek forehands came out in force in the next game, and she prevailed in a protracted battle to convert her third match point in that game.
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