Iga Swiatek defeated Karolina Pliskova, 2018 Stuttgart champion, while Jabeur, Tunisian world number four, breezed past Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil

Poland's Iga Swiatek returns the ball to Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova during their quarter-final match at the Women's Tennis Grand Prix WTA tournament in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, on April 21, 2023.AFP

Iga Swiatek, the world number one and defending champion, secured a place in the Stuttgart last-four and will meet Ons Jabeur in a US Open final rematch.  

Swiatek defeated Karolina Pliskova, the 2018 Stuttgart champion, 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, while Jabeur, the Tunisian world number four, breezed past Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-3, 6-0. In the 2021 Rome final, Swiatek beat Pliskova without losing a game. However, on Friday, Pliskova took control of the match, racing to a 4-0 lead in just over 15 minutes. 

Swiatek responded by sweeping the first four games of the second set to level the contest, and after breaking for 2-1 in the decider, was never troubled again. Swiatek leads Jabeur 3-2 in their head-to-head record, with their most recent clash coming in the US Open final last year when the Pole won in straight sets for her second major of 2022.

Jabeur believes that the key to defeating Swiatek is being unpredictable, saying, "I think maybe the key is to be unpredictable with Iga, not knowing which shots I´m going to do. I think that´s really good to disturb her a lot." 

Aryna Sabalenka, the world number two, also advanced to the semi-finals for the third consecutive year, coming from a set and a break down to beat Spanish wild card Paula Badosa. Sabalenka won 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in two hours, 30 minutes and will next meet Anastasia Potapova, who ousted Caroline Garcia in three sets.

In a tight first set, Badosa saved three break points to serve out and opened a 6-4, 4-2 lead before Sabalenka broke back for 4-4, reeling off seven games on the trot for a 3-0 lead in the third set. 

Sabalenka said, "I was just talking to myself and saying, OK, just try one more time, just try to put the ball back, and then run and move and try to win this game and probably you can win this set. Then who knows what´s going to happen in the third set? Definitely that game was the key game." 

In the decider, the pair traded serves with five breaks, but Badosa, who fell to Sabalenka in the semi-finals in Stuttgart last year, paid for a string of double faults with nine in total. Sabalenka sealed victory on her second match point with a backhand into an open court, nailing her 40th winner of the day. 

The Australian Open champion advances to her fourth semi-final in six tournaments this year, with her overall record now 22-3 for 2023. Sabalenka is aiming for her first Stuttgart title after finishing as the runner-up in 2021 to Ashleigh Barty and in 2022 to Swiatek.

Potapova, who is ranked 24th in the world, claimed her third top-five win with a 2-hour, 12-minute upset of Garcia. She fired 19 winners to Garcia's 34 but committed 42 unforced errors compared to her seeded opponent's 69.