Tennis: Iga Świątek advances to the WTA semi-finals in Stuttgart

Iga Świątek defeated Emma Raducanu from the UK 6:4, 6:4 and advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA tournament in Stuttgart. In the next stage of the tournament, she will battle Russian Liudmila Samsonova on Saturday for a spot in the final.

The Pole quickly imposed her conditions and broke her serve in the opening game. She then controlled the situation on the court, but Raducanu set the bar rather high for her.

The first set lasted 42 minutes with Świątek losing four games, the most since the opening set of the Miami final against Naomi Osaka.

The second set started the same way as the first one, with the Pole winning the break point. In the next game, however, the British player won on serve for the first time in the match and the score was tied at 1:1. Later on, the Pole won two consecutive games getting a 3-1 lead over the British sportswoman, however, the match remained close until the end.

Emma Raducanu had two chances to bring the match into a tie-break in the second set, but Iga Świątek came through claiming the victory after 95 minutes of play.

Her run continues 💥

🇵🇱 @iga_swiatek eases past Raducanu and extends her 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙚 run to 21 match wins in a row!#PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/SV0eD9Fz8g

— wta (@WTA) April 22, 2022

The 20-year-old Pole, who leads the world rankings since April 4, is the highest seed in the event, while the year and a half younger British player, winner of last year’s US Open, is ranked 12th in the women’s tennis ranking.

The Polish athlete claimed her 21st consecutive victory, including her 19th victory at WTA tournaments. Even more impressive she has already won 28 consecutive set wins.

Her tally this year is 30 wins and just three losses, the last of which she suffered against Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko in the 1/8 final of the Dubai tournament on February 16. She later topped the WTA 1000 rankings in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami respectively.

✨ JAZDA ✨@iga_swiatek | #PorscheTennis pic.twitter.com/8383rWdEwJ

— wta (@WTA) April 22, 2022

The second semi-final pairing will be Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, seeded second and third. The Spaniard, who will become the runner-up in the world ranking, defeated Tunisian Ons Jabeur (7th) 7:6 (11-9), 1:6, 6:3 in the quarter-finals, while the Belarusian won over Estonian Anett Kontaveit (5th) 6:4, 3:6, 6:1.