After Thursday’s quarterfinals, the 2017 Mutua Madrid Open is now down to final four players. Since most of the top seeds hit trouble in the Spanish capital early on, the semifinal players include some names not often seen in the concluding rounds of a WTA Premier Mandatory event, including Kristina Mladenovic and Anastasija Sevastova.
While Mladenovic continues to back up her strong season and last week’s Stuttgart final with another strong run, Sevastova is making her first-ever Premier Mandatory semifinal appearance, having punched her ticket with a straight set win over Kiki Bertens on Thursday.
A much more common face seen in late stages of such a big event is Simona Halep, as the 2016 Madrid champ is continuing to strive for another great result here. American Coco Vandeweghe had nothing to offer that could stop the popular Romanian — Halep allowed Vandeweghe to win just two games in what was a straight-set beatdown.
The evening match between Eugenie Bouchard and Svetlana Kuznetsova had a special dramatic component. Following Bouchard’s controversial comments on Maria Sharapova earlier in the week, Kuznetsova publicly backed her Russian countrywoman, brushing off Bouchard’s claim of supposedly having done the other players a favor by beating the five-time Grand Slam champion. Kuznetsova had no problems with Bouchard, delivering a bagel to the Canadian in what was a cold and rainy Madrid evening.
The semifinals of the 2017 Mutua Madrid Open are due to be played tomorrow. Keep checking back to Women’s Tennis Blog to find out which two players will be playing for the prestigious trophy on Sunday.
MORE PHOTOS FROM MADRID:
- Wednesday: Kerber retires, Bouchard and Halep move on
- Tuesday: Halep surives, Cibulkova crashes out
- Monday: Bouchard shocks Sharapova
- Sunday: Sharapova sets up Bouchard clash
- Saturday: Bouchard & Pliskova move on, Keys crashes out
- Friday: Qualifying, main-draw ceremony, All Access Hour
- Thursday: Tie Break Tens exhibition featuring Sharapova, Halep, Keys, Kuznetsova, Radwanska, Puig
Kiki Mladenovic is really on fire on clay. She’s one of my contenders for Roland Garros and no doubt she’ll be in Top 10 this year or even Top 5. She has a great chance of winning Madrid.