April 21, (THEWILL) – In a thrilling quarter-final match at the Stuttgart Open, Iga Swiatek emerged victorious against Karolina Pliskova, to reach the tournament’s semi-finals.
Despite cruising past Qinwen Zheng in the previous round, Swiatek had to dig deep to overcome Pliskova, who was taken to the distance by Donna Vekic in their match-up. Pliskova had an advantage in experience over her 21-year-old opponent, having been a former world number one herself, but it was not enough to secure her the win.
The first set saw Pliskova break Swiatek twice to her opponent’s once, giving her the early advantage. However, Swiatek bounced back in the second set, breaking Pliskova to race into a 3-0 lead, and then again to 4-0 before wrapping things up 6-1 to level the match. In the third set, Swiatek continued to push hard and consistently broke her 31-year-old rival to move ahead 5-2 and serve for victory.
Earlier in the day, Ons Jabeur defeated Beatriz Haddad Maia 6-3 6-0 to reach the next round, while Anastasia Potapova and Aryna Sabalenka also emerged victorious after coming from behind in their respective matches.
On Saturday, Potapova will face Sabalenka, while Jabeur will take on Swiatek, in what promises to be an exciting semi-final lineup.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
