Elena Rybakina is still in contention to achieve to win both the Sunshine Double tournaments. The world's number 7 was a big favorite of her quarterfinals match against Martina Trevisan and showed a great performance, winning 6-3 6-0 in just 72 minutes. The match was quite close till the 7th game. Rybakina earned the break advantage, but the Italian managed to com e back on level, clearing the gap for the score *3-4. It was the end of battle tough, as Rybakina won 8 games in a row since then. The Kazakh was asked about the possible Sunshine Double achievement in the post match-interview: "For sure I do not have any pressure. I know that it is very difficult and not many players did it. Plus I was match point down the other match, so I really do not think so far in the draw. I just need to focus match by match, and I have a tough opponent. Of course it would be amazing to achieve something like that, but it is still far away." It was 12th consecutive win for Rybakina and 20th in whole the season so far.
Jessica Pegula will try to challenge the in-form Rybakina in the semifinal. The American survived a thrilling battle against Anastasia Potapova in the match, which was delayed by the rain conditions and delivered a huge ton of emotions. Pegula was the pre-match favorite and started well with an early break, but the Russian found her good game and made quite a surprise, winning the opening set. Potapova followed the blow, gaining another break after start of second set, which put Pegula in a difficult position. This time it was the world's number 3 who turned out the fates of set, which moved the match into whole distance.
The decisive set was a real rollercoaster. Pegula started with a break, but Potapova fought back, winning 4 games in a row and moving into 4-2 lead. The match was seemingly coming to the end, as the Russian was serving for the match in 10th game, leading 40-15 in her service game. Pegula came almost out of nowhere, defending the matchpoints and leveling the score. Two following games were also ended up with breaks, which caused the final's set tie-break. Pegula has dominated her opponent there and achieved the semifinal by making a fabulous comeback.
Sorana Cirstea celebrates one of her biggest career's succeses, advancing to the WTA 1000 tournament semifinal after beating the current world number 2 and recent Grand Slam champion - Aryna Sabalenka. The Belarusian who showed a stunning performance against Barbora Krejcikova in the hit clash of previous round, was a clear pre-match favorite with an odd 1.16. Cirstea - the biggest sensation in the QFs field, has also played an amazing tournament so far, eliminating the names like Caroline Garcia, Karolina Muchova and Marketa Vondrousova on the road. Despite that, barely anyone could expect that the Romanian will earn the comfortable win against one of the most in-form players in the world right now. Both sets of this match had similar turn of events. Cirstea gained a break in opening game of both. Sabalenka was trying to fight back, leveling the score, but the Romanian found the decisive breaks in 9th game of first and 7th game of second set, earning the deserved advance into semis. It's best result for Cirstea since Rogers Cup 2013 in Toronto, when she made a sensational final run, losing to Serena Williams in the last match.
"I think I am a bit speechless. I came out knowing that it is going to be a really tough match. Aryna hits so hard, so I knew I had to hold my ground, and I am very, very happy with my performance today. I guess people like to keep count of the age, the years, the results, but I never do that. I just mind my own business, work hard, do my thing, believe in my game, work with my coach. We just started in December and so far, I think it is going great. I am not defined by numbers. I am just trying to keep my head down and work hard." - said the Romanian in the post-match interview.
Petra Kvitova will be Cirstea's semifinal opponent. The Czech's Grand Slam champion defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-4 3-6 6-3. The match was quite dynamic, as it took just 2:13 hours despite being a three-setter. Both players showed some good and reliable performance. All the sets were decided by just one single break.
