In a highly anticipated quarterfinal at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Friday, World No.1 Iga Swiatek of Poland overcame a stern effort by No.8 seed Emma Raducanu of Great Britain before triumphing 6-4, 6-4.
For Swiatek, the 1-hour and 45-minute victory over reigning US Open champion Raducanu marked her 21st straight match-win. It was also the Polish star’s tour-leading 28th victory of the season thus far. She said:
"I'm not thinking much about what's happened, and also what's going to happen. [I'm] just focusing on the next match, and I'm really doing everything to prepare and recover well after each round. ... It seems like I'm going with the flow, but behind it, it's hard work."
In the semifinals, Swiatek will meet big-hitting Liudmila Samsonova, in their first meeting. On that she said:
"I've seen the scores, and it seems like [Samsonova] is getting more and more confident, and her ranking is going up. So for sure she's one to watch, and she's doing huge progress. ... I need to tactically prepare tomorrow, and I'll be ready."