Staff Reporter.
World No 1,Iga Swiatek raced into the Madrid Open semifinals on Wednesday with a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Croatia’s Petra Martic in the last eight.
The world No 1, playing the event for only the second time, will take on Russian 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova on Thursday for a place in the final.
Swiatek lost just eight points in a completely one-sided first set before one break of serve in the second set proved enough to send her into a fifth successive WTA Tour semifinal.
Kudermetova beats Pegula
Russian Veronika Kudermetova ousted world No 3 Jessica Pegula 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 in a topsy-turvy clash to reach the semifinals.
The 26-year-old beat the American five-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist in three sets to reach a WTA 1000 event semifinal for the first time, recovering after a collapse in the second.
“To beat Jessica it feels very nice, I’m so proud of myself because every match I played almost three hours,” said Kudermetova.
“And today in the second set I start to play so badly.
“But before the third set, I said ‘Veronika, you need to try to play your best, because the fans are here. I want to show you some energy’.”
The Russian battled well to take the first set in the Madrid sun, but crumbled in the second.
Kudermetova won three three-set matches to reach the quarterfinals and appeared to tire, making several unforced errors as last year’s Madrid Open finalist triumphed easily in just 22 minutes, winning 83 per cent of points.
However, after a medical time-out, she rallied in the third, with each player breaking the other twice for 3-3, before Kudermetova managed it again for a 4-3 lead which she was able to consolidate before serving it out.
Pegula saved one match point but Kudermetova clinched progress with her fourth ace of the match. The 12th seed will face world No 1 Iga Swiatek in Thursday’s semifinal.
Alcaraz defeats Khachanov
Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz on Wednesday moved into the Madrid Open semifinals with a straight sets victory over Karen Khachanov in his final match as a teenager, while Iga Swiatek reached the women’s last four.
US Open winner Alcaraz, who turns 20 on Friday when the last-four ties are played, overturned 4-1 and 5-2 deficits in the second set to defeat 12th-ranked Khachanov, 6-4, 7-5.
“Winning this match will give me a lot of confidence, Karen was at a great level and took me to the limit,” said world No 2 Alcaraz who unleashed 31 winners.
“It was decided by small details and I am very, very happy to be able to get through this round.”
The top seed triumphed in one hour and 52 minutes and will next face Borna Coric of Croatia who eased past German lucky loser Daniel Altmaier 6-3, 6-3.