Maria Sakkari and Aryna Sabalenka advanced to the Madrid Open women’s singles semi-finals. Before rallying, both players dropped their first sets.
World number two Sabalenka defeated Egypt’s Mayar Sherif 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 at Manolo Santana. The 2023 Australian Open winner has a 27-4 win-loss record in 2023. Sakkari of Greece will face her, who defeated Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-2.
Sakkari stated that fighting Sabalenka will be difficult by any standard. Sabalenka has a 5-3 head-to-head advantage over her Greek opponent.
“We’re all aware that she’s in excellent form right now. She is currently playing the best tennis, better than everyone else. Obviously, it’s not her preferred surface, but she won this event and is doing admirably,” Sakkari remarked.
Jessica Pegula and Veronika Kudermetova will face off in the third quarter final on Wednesday, followed by a match between World No.1 Iga Swiatek and Croatia’s Petra Martic.
No.4 seed Stefanos Tsitsipas defeated Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-3, 6-1 in the Round of 16 at Manolo Santana. Despite converting all three of his break points, Miralles was broken seven times. Tsitsipas battled with his second serves, winning only 40% of them, but it wasn’t enough to keep him from winning the match.
“He came out pretty strong in some of my service games. It’s never easy playing against Spaniards who know the surface very well.” “It seemed a little chaotic at first, but I gave myself time to think and construct my points,” Tsitsipas said.
Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany defeated Argentina’s Pedro Cachn 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (7-9), 6-3 in the other Round of 16 match. Struff will now face off against Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals.
