Rybakina to meet Swiatek in Stuttgart, Vondrousova ousts Sabalenka

Fourth seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan will meet top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland in the semifinal round of the Stuttgart Open, and Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic will meet Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine, who is the only non-Top 10 player in the last four.

Rybakina fended off the challenge of Italian Jasmine Paolini 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 on Friday, and said it was normal to play a match stretched to full sets. "It's just part of the work. It takes time to feel better and better on clay," said the world No. 4 who has a slight edge of 3-2 in her head-to-head record against the Polish world No.1.

Rybakina and Swiatek are level on their Tour-leading winning record of 24 matches this season. The defending champion ousted U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu of the UK, who plummeted to a ranking of 303rd due to injuries, wining 7-6(2), 6-3 to enjoy a 10-0 run and inch closer to her third consecutive title in Stuttgart.

"Of course I want to win, but I need to be also realistic. She's very good player on clay. She's maybe a little bit more favorite now. But if I play well, I serve well, I move good, I have all the chances," said Rybakina.

Meanwhile, Vondrousova managed to take a win from a Top 10 player after losing five matches straight to top seeds, and ended her four-match losing streak to Belarusian second seed Aryna Sabalenka 3-6, 6-3, 7-5.

"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 moment," said the Czech, who proved herself a threat last year at Wimbledon, beating two Top 10 players to win the title.

Vondrousova led 4-1 in the second set and broke for a third time to deny Sabalenka's effort to pull it back to 4-3. The Australian Open champion did however lead 5-4 in the decider, but Vondrousova took three games in a row to set up her semifinal clash, which is already her best record at Stuttgart, against world No. 14 Kostyuk, who downed U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff and China's top-ranked Zheng Qinwen along the way.