PREVIEW | 2025 Internationaux de Strasbourg - Semi-Finals: Elena Rybakina favourite to scoop first title in over a year

It is semi-finals day at Internationaux de Strasbourg with our preview taking you through the leading talking points with four players remaining in the reckoning in France ahead of Roland Garros albeit with one lead standout name.

That being Elena Rybakina who has been absent from the top table of women's tennis for a prolonged period of time. The fourth seed this week shows how far she has fallen since being a top three player and she hasn't won a title since Stuttgart last year also on the clay.

But it has been a rocky road for the former Wimbledon champion. Last season saw flashes of brilliance confounded as she was always out with some sort of an illness or injury. This season too has seen headlines more drift towards her banned coach Stefano Vukov.

Vukov was handed a ban from the WTA but has still seemingly been working with his charge who initially removed him during the US Open last year but he returned to the bemusement of tennis fans during the Australian swing only to get suspended.

She brought in Goran Ivanisevic but then welcomed Vukov back to her time prior to the suspension which saw the former then quit his role. She has also shown middling form in clay tournaments with Bianca Andreescu quelling her in Rome, she also didn't defend Stuttgart albeit due to Billie Jean King Cup duty.

There she looked superb albeit against lesser opposition. This week Rybakina saw off Xinyu Wang after a first round bye 6-1, 6-3. She was then up against Magda Linette in the Quarter-Finals. While competitive, she remained one stpe ahead and broke the serve of the Pole twice over the match to win 7-5, 6-3.

Her opponent is also on a bit of a resurgence. That being Beatriz Haddad Maia with the Brazilian staging a superb comeback to beat Clara Tauson 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round. She then saw off Ashlyn Krueger 7-6, 6-3 to set up a Quarter-Final showdown with Emma Navarro. This saw the Brazilian manage to get back on serve after going a break down in the first set. She lost it though and went on to lose the opening set. Haddad Maia stopped Navarro serving out the match at 6-5 to force a tie-break.

She came out on top to take the set breaking the American's serve on multiple occasions from there to seal a 3-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 win in just over three hours. In terms of Head to Head, Haddad Maia leads Rybakina 2-1. The Kazakh won their previous meeting courtesy of a mid match retirement back in 2023 at Wimbledon.

The second semi-final battle sees Danielle Collins face off against Liudmila Samsonova. The latter has already done her part ranking wise defending her run to this point twelve months ago.

She has beaten the likes of Paula Badosa, Diane Parry and Linda Noskova to not only book her spot in the last four but also improve to 13-11 this season. She had only got back-to-back wins twice this season so ahead of a pivotal juncture where she also defends a final in Rosmalen in a few weeks, she is back on form.

Collins too has had a resurgent week. This time last season she headed into Roland Garros as one of the favourites after a superb spring but this year it was about defending her final run and she is one away from doing that.

After not making a Quarter-Final at any event that she played until Charleston at the back end of March, she made the Rome third round before losing to Elina Svitolina. In Strasbourg, she has seen off Emma Raducanu and Sofia Kenin in a superb week before getting a walk-over against Anna Kalinskaya.

Liudmila Samsonova has won their only other meeting 6-1, 6-3 in Washington back in 2023.