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Patna : World No 4 in WTA rankings Kiki Bertens, Netherlands, World No 7 Karolina Pliskova, 27, Czech Republic, and World No 42 Johann Konta, 27, Britain, entered the semi-finals of Italian Open on May 17, 2019.
Pliskova beat World No 51 Victoria Azarenka, 29, Belarus, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 coming from behind in the quarter-finals at Foro Italico, Rome, Italy. Pliskova hammaered 11 Aces in the match to 5 by Azarenka. Pliskova committed 4 double faults to 7 by Azarenka. Pliskova broke Azarenka’s service 6 times in the match while the latter broke her service twice. Pliskova won 63 service points to 55 by Azarenka, the winner of 2 Grand Slam titles.
Kiki Bertens, who won Madrid Open singles title last week, reached the semi-finals of the tournament after her semi-final opponent and World No 1 Naomi Osaka, 21, Japan, retired from the contest before the match. Osaka is reigning US Open and Australian Open Champion.
Konta advanced to the semi-finals beating World No 44 Marketa Vondrousova, 19, Czech Republic, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in the quarter-finals. Konta broke Marketa’s service 5 times in the match while the latter broke her service twice. Both the players served 2 Aces each in the match. Konta won 6 games in a row in the match to 3 by Marketa. Both the players won 50 service points each. Konta will face Bertens in the SFs.