World number two Aryna Sabalenka’s hopes of reaching a fourth consecutive Stuttgart Open final ended after a 3-6 6-3 7-5 quarter-final defeat by Marketa Vondrousova on Friday, while champion Iga Swiatek maintained her perfect record at the event.
World number one Swiatek extended her run at the tournament to 10-0 and is now two wins away from claiming a third successive Stuttgart title following her 7-6(2) 6-3 win over Briton’s Emma Raducanu. She will face fourth seed Elena Rybakina for a place in tomorrow’s final.
Sabalenka had won her last four matches with Vondrousova, and after winning the opening set, the Australian Open champion looked on course to progress. Wimbledon champion Vondrousova led 4-1 in the second set before Sabalenka pulled it back to 4-3 but the Czech sixth seed broke for a third time and held serve to force the decider. Sabalenka went 5-4 ahead in the final set before Vondrousova reeled off three games in a row to reach the semi-finals where she will meet either American third seed Coco Gauff or Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
“It was a very tough match, and I think a great one, too,” Vondrousova said. “She’s a great player so I just tried to stay in the rallies. She hits very fast so it’s tough to do something. But I stayed calm in the crucial moments.”
Sabalenka reached the quarter-finals after her good friend Paula Badosa was forced to retire through injury on Wednesday, with the match tied at one set each and 3-3 in the decider. Fourth seed Elena Rybakina also reached the semi-finals after overcoming the challenge of in-form Jasmine Paolini 6-3 5-7 6-3. Paolini won the Dubai Tennis Championships in February and rose to a career-high 14th in the world rankings and reached the last 16 at Indian Wells in March. After winning the opening set, Rybakina had let slip a 4-2 lead in the second and came back from an early break by the Italian in the final set.
“I’m happy with my energy,” Rybakina said. “Of course, I had chances in the second set where I could have closed it out but overall, I think it’s just a matter of matches and feeling better and better on the court.”

Tsitsipas saves two match points to reach Barcelona semis
World number seven Stefanos Tsitsipas saved two match points to defeat Facundo Diaz Acosta and reach the semi-finals of the Barcelona clay-court tournament. The Greek came through 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (10/8) after his 53rd-ranked Argentine opponent missed a match point in the 12th game of the deciding set.
Both men then saved more match points in the tie-breaker before Tsitsipas, a three-time runner-up at the Barcelona tournament, secured a ninth successive win following on from his Monte Carlo Masters title victory at the weekend. The 25-year-old Tsitsipas will face either 36th-ranked Arthur Fils of France or Dusan Lajovic, the world number 59 from Serbia, in the semi-finals on Saturday.
Casper Ruud, the world number six from Norway who was runner-up to Tsitsipas in Monte Carlo, eased past Italian Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-3. “It is not easy. You are playing for a spot in the semi-finals,” said Ruud. “I was able to come through in the end after a few crazy rallies.”
Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry also booked his place in the semi-finals with a hard-fought straight sets win over Britain’s Cameron Norrie. Etcheverry, ranked 30 in the world, one place higher Norrie, edged a tight match 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) and will face Ruud for a place on the final.“I spoke to my coach last night and also my team, that I have to play aggressively to win this match,” the 24-year-old Etcheverry said.