This year’s Roland Garros champion Ashleigh Barty edged past Petra Martic 7-6 3-6 6-3 after 2 hours and 22 minutes to reach her third semifinal this year.
Both players traded breaks at the start of the first set. Barty broke serve in the fourth game with a service winner. Martic broke straight back in the seventh game and earned tow break points in the 11th game, but she failed to convert them. She saved a set point on serve to reach a tie-break. Martic hit a half-volley to earn a set point at 6-5.
Barty fended it off with a forehand winner and sealed the tie-break 8-6 when Martic sent her lob long.
Martic broke serve in the eighth game at 2-1 after a backhand slice error from Barty and held three service games to force the match to the third set.
Both players traded breaks in the first games. Barty got another break in the eighth game after a double break from Martic and closed out the match with an ace in the ninth game.
Barty set up a semifinal match against defending champion Aryna Sabalenka, who edged Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina 6-3 1-6 6-1 after 1 hour and 41 minutes.
Sabalenka saved all three break point chances she faced in the opening set and broke serve in the second game with a deep return. Sabalenka sealed the first set 6-3 on her third break point.
Rybakina dropped just six points and broke serve in the second game after a double fault from Sabalenka. Rybakina went up a double break in the fourth game after a backhand error to open up a 4-0 lead. Rybakina fended off a set point on serve in the sixth game, but Rybakina sealed the set with a service winner. Sabalenka broke twice in the second and fourth game, but she wasted two match points on return in the sixth game before sealing the win with an ace in the seventh game.
“My game is getting better and better every day. I feel great. Rybakina broke my serve, and I started to get nervous a little bit. The third set I was trying to move her a little bit more, don’t give her that much time, just move her from side to side a little bit quicker”,said Sabalenka.
Alison Riske cruised past Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-3 after 1 hour and 24 minutes to advance to her third WTA Tour semifinal in 2019.
Riske beat Svitolina for the first time in their four head-to-head matches.
The US player saved four of the five break point chances she faced and converted five of her thirteen break points.
Riske converted her sixth break point in the opening game of the first set and held her serve after a forehand error from Svitolina in the second game. She went up another break to open up a 3-0 lead. Riske earned another break in the seventh game to clinch the first set 6-1.
Svitolina went up a break in the third game of the second set. Riske broke straight back in the fourth game after a forehand error from Svitolina and did not convert two break points in the fifth game.
Riske forced an error to break serve for 4-2. Riske sealed the win in the ninth game when Elina sent a forehand long setting up a semifinal match against Petra Kvitova.
Kvitova cruised past Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska 6-2 6-4 after 1 hour and 12 minutes in their first ever head-to-head clash. The Czech player fended off two of the three break point chances and converted four of her eight break points.
Kvitova broke serve in the second time to open up a 4-1 lead. Kvitova hit an ace in the eighth game to close out the first set 6-2. She went up a double break in the first and third games. Yastremska pulled one break back, but Kvitova held serve at 30 in her last four service games and closed out the match with a service winner in the 10th game.
