Italian Open: Ostapenko books spot in semi-finals

Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, the No 20 seed, reached the last 4 of the Italian Open by defeating Spaniard Paula Badosa 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 at the Foro Italico in Rome on Wednesday.

Ostapenko, ranked No 20, will face the winner of the match between Pole Iga Swiatek, the top seed, and Kazakh Elena Rybakina, the No 7 seed, next.

The Latvian won against Romanian Sorana Cirstea (6-3, 3-6, 6-2), Czech Barbora Krejcikova, the No 10 seed (7-6 (2), 6-0) and Russian Daria Kasatkina, the No 8 seed (6-4, 4-6, 6-0) ahead of her victory.

In the previous rounds of the Rome tournament, Badosa, ranked No 35, beat German qualifier Anna-Lena Friedsam (4-6, 6-2, 7-6 (2)), Tunisian Ons Jabeur, the No 4 seed (6-1, 6-4), Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, the No 32 seed (6-4, 6-2) and Czech Karolina Muchova (6-4, 6-7 (4), 6-2).

Rome WTA 1000, other quarter-finals results (Foro Italico, clay, USD 3.572.618, most recent results first):

• Iga Swiatek vs. Elena Rybakina
• Anhelina Kalinina (30) beat Beatriz Haddad Maia (12): 6-7 (2), 7-6 (6), 6-3
• Veronika Kudermetova (11) beat Qinwen Zheng (22): 3-6, 6-3, 6-4