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Swiatek's perfect 10 in Stuttgart as Sabalenka, Gauff crash out
World No 1 and defending champion Iga Swiatek took her Stuttgart winning streak to 10 matches on Friday with a straight sets quarterfinal victory over Emma Raducanu while title rivals Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff suffered shock defeats.
Top seed Swiatek, the 2022 and 2023 champion at the German clay-court tournament, saw off former US Open champion Raducanu 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Reigning Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova beat world No 2 and three-time Stuttgart runner-up Sabalenka 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.
US Open champion Gauff, the world No 3, fell 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (8/6) to Ukraine's Marta Kostyuk.
Stuttgart 👏 Semifinals 👏 Set#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/UGGMTS1ZXQ
— wta (@WTA) April 19, 2024
The 22-year-old Swiatek needed just over two hours to defeat Raducanu who was playing in her first quarterfinal since 2022.
"She started playing at the beginning pretty loose, like she had nothing to lose, and I totally get that. Sometimes it is like that," said Swiatek.
"But I knew I was kind of questioning if she's going to be able to keep the same intensity throughout the whole match. It wasn't about service games or return games. I was just waiting for my chances to break back and I was sure that I'm going to get them."
Moving to 10-0(!) in Stuttgart 🔥
— wta (@WTA) April 19, 2024
Top seed @iga_swiatek keeps her hopes of a #PorscheTennis three-peat alive as she downs Raducanu to arrange a semifinal clash with Rybakina on Saturday! pic.twitter.com/g6bowJsxqn
Despite her loss, there were encouraging signs of a return to form for Raducanu.
Her two wins for Britain in the Billie Jean King Cup win against France last weekend followed by two victories in Stuttgart mark the first time she has won four matches in a row since her 2021 US Open title triumph.
The former world number 10 came into Stuttgart ranked at 303. Twelve months ago, Stuttgart proved to be her final event of 2023 before undergoing surgery on both wrists and her ankle.
KOSTYUK FIGHTBACK
Swiatek will face fourth-seeded Elena Rybakina, who defeated Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 5-7, 6-3, for a place in the final.
Passes the Paolini test ✅
— wta (@WTA) April 19, 2024
No.4 seed Elena Rybakina is into her first career Stuttgart semifinal, where she will face Swiatek or Raducanu!#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/41tJEnTGE6
Vondrousova reached her first semifinal since clinching the Wimbledon title last July when she stunned Sabalenka.
The sixth-seeded Czech celebrated her first win over Sabalenka in six years after losing four in a row between 2018 and 2023.
Australian Open champion Sabalenka had been attempting to make the Stuttgart final for a fourth successive year.
The powerful Belarusian crunched 35 winners to Vondrousova's 17, but committed 48 unforced errors compared to 19.
Vondrousova crucially converted seven of eight break points while Sabalenka only capitalised six times from 15 opportunities.
Into her first Stuttgart semi 🤟
— wta (@WTA) April 19, 2024
Marketa Vondrousova takes out three-time finalist Sabalenka and will face the winner of Gauff-Kostyuk for a place in the final!#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/nEzBTCGjQx
Vondrousova will face Kostyuk for a place in Sunday's final after the 27th-ranked Ukrainian avenged her Australian Open quarterfinal loss to Gauff.
The 21-year-old Kostyuk needed over three hours to defeat Laura Siegemund in the first round before saving five match points to defeat Zheng Qinwen in the last 16.
On Friday, she battled back from 4-2 in the second set and 3-1 down in the third.
Kostyuk swept to a convincing 6/2 in the tie-break while Gauff saved a total of nine match points.
The Ukrainian carved out 21 break points in all and hit 35 winners to Gauff's 21.
what it means 💜@marta_kostyuk takes out the No.3 seed Gauff to reach the @PorscheTennis semifinals for the first time in her career! pic.twitter.com/f1D6x9qHKb
— wta (@WTA) April 19, 2024
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