Sakkari powers into Madrid semi-final and Sabalenka rematch

Greek Maria Sakkari powered into her second 1000-level semi-final of 2023 with a comeback win on Tuesday at the Madrid Open. The No 9 seed defeated Romanias Irina-Camelia Begu, the No 31 seed, 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-2 to reach her first semi-final at Madrid.

Sakkari, who improves to 19-8 on the season, will play Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, the second seed, next.

The pair met in the semi-finals at Indian Wells, with Sabalenka winning in straight sets. Sabalenka holds the 5-3 edge over Sakkari overall, but the pair have yet to meet on clay.

Earlier in the tournament, the Greek won against Dutch qualifier Arantxa Rus (6-4, 6-4), Spanish wildcard Rebeka Masarova (3-6, 6-3, 6-3) and Spaniard Paula Badosa, the No 26 seed (6-4, 6-4).

Begu, ranked No 35, won against Czech Karolina Muchova (6-4, 7-5), American Shelby Rogers, the No 33 seed (7-5, 6-2) and Russian Liudmila Samsonova, the No 14 seed (6-4, 6-4) in the previous rounds of the Madrid tournament.

Madrid WTA 1000, other last 8 results (Caja Magica, clay, USD 7.652.174, most recent results first):

• Iga Swiatek vs. Petra Martic
• Jessica Pegula vs. Veronika Kudermetova
• Aryna Sabalenka beat Mayar Sherif: 2-6, 6-2, 6-1

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