Author: Barkha Roy
In the women’s doubles, the Brazilian-Russian duo of Beatriz Haddad Maia and Victoria Azarenka beat the Spanish-American pair of Paula Badosa and Bethanie Mattek-Sands 7-6(7), 7-5 to advance to the semi-finals. Maia is now the only Brazilian player left in the tournament.
The reigning men’s champion at the Madrid Open and Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz advanced to the semi-finals of the competition after winning the second set, ending the match 6-4, 7-5.
The Spaniard was trailing 2-5 in the second set, but overcame the deficit to win the match in two sets. On his way to victory, the teenager scored 31 points over the course of the game. The Russian 10th seed played well and looked certain to give the Spaniard a tough battle, but Carlos broke his opponent on his seventh serve to claim first place. In this set, the defending champion lost just two points on his serve.
In response, Khachanov came on strong, opening up a 5-1 lead. However, Alcaraz adjusted his errors and won six consecutive serves to record a victory in one hour and 51 minutes. He next faces 17th seed Borna Coric, who broke Daniel Altmaier’s dream run with a 6-3, 6-3 win in two sets.
After winning a break of serve in his second game back, the Croatian never looked back, quickly closing out the first set by winning by a 6-3 margin. Although the German showed a lot of power with his one-handed backhand, he was unable to put pressure on the 26-year-old Croat.
In the women’s event, 12th seed Veronika Kudermetova beat third seed Jessica Pegula 6-4, 0-6, 6-4 to reach the semi-finals and the highest point of her career. The Russian broke her opponent’s serve twice in the first and third sets, but was stopped each time by Pegula.
However, she finally managed to control her nerves and broke Pegula’s serve for the third time to win the first set, and then seal the match in the third set. Kudermetova will face world number one Iga Swiatek on Friday, after the Polish star had a comfortable 6-0, 6-3 win over 27th seed Petra Martic of Croatia.