The semifinals of the 2015 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix have been set, as the remaining four players have booked their ticket in the Porsche Arena on Friday.
The first one to join the round of the final four was Romania’s Simona Halep, who won her quarterfinal match against Sara Errani in straight sets. The past few days had been remarkable for Halep for all the wrong reasons, since a mentally unstable fan had issued death threats against the Romanian world #3, causing security to be enforced around Halep in Stuttgart this week.
There’s considerably less drama around Caroline Wozniacki this week. The 2011 Stuttgart finalist has made the semifinals in a very smooth fashion. Following a swift win over Lucie Safarova in the second round, Wozniacki swept aside Spanish clay specialist Carla Suarez Navarro on Friday.
Afterwards, Angelique Kerber returned to center court, facing the task of backing up last night’s epic victory over Maria Sharapova with another win. The Poland-born German succeeded in style, handing Ekaterina Makarova a straight-set loss and keeping the crowd’s hopes for a German Stuttgart champion very much alive.
The semifinals were completed by American Madison Brengle, following her win over France’s Caroline Garcia. Brengle continues what is a splendid 2015 season for her, making the semifinals of a very prestigious WTA tournament despite not even having a coach with her in Stuttgart this week.
Whether it’s Kerber, Halep, Wozniacki or Brengle who will be driving the Porsche 911 Carrera GTS off the stage on Sunday, one thing is for certain: the 2015 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will have a first-time winner following three years of Sharapova dominance in Stuttgart.
Good week for Kerber and Wozniacki so far. Too bad Halep lost but she earned the Top 2 ranking. She deserves it!