The Italian Open continues, with the women’s semi-finals to get underway on Thursday, while the remaining two ATP quarter-finals are on the schedule. Three-time former champion Iga Swiatek stormed into the last four with a 6-1 6-2 win over Jessica Pegula, and will face Elina Svitolina, who stunned second seed Elena Rybakina in three sets.
Coco Gauff, who saved a match point earlier in the tournament, faces retired star Sorana Cirstea, who caused one of the upsets of the tournament when she beat world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in round three.
On the men’s side, Luciano Darderi and Casper Ruud are already into the semis, and will be joined by the winner of Jannik Sinner vs Andrey Rublev, and the winner of Martin Landaluce vs Daniil Medvedev. And there was plenty of drama during the first two men’s quarter-finals on Wednesday.
First, there was a lengthy rain delay while Ruud led Karen Khachanov 6-1 0-1 in the afternoon. When they finally returned a couple of hours later, Khachanov was able to take the second set, but Ruud fought back to win 6-1 1-6 6-2. Then, a cloud of thick smoke suspended play in the quarter-final between home hope Luciano Darderi and Spanish teenage sensation Rafael Jodar in the evening.
There had been fireworks from a nearby football stadium, and the plume of smoke covered Campo Centrale, and meant play was halted for almost 20 minutes towards the end of set one. When they got back underway, Italian star Darderi then took the first set and raced into a 3-0 lead in the second, but Jodar came storming back and saved two match points to force a decider. In the end, Darderi claimed a 6-5(5) 5-7 6-0 victory after 2am local time.
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