Swiatek asserts No. 1 status with win over Andreescu in Rome

Rome: World No 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas overcame Italian Jannik Sinner 7-6(5), 6-2 and a raucous home crowd to reach the semifinals of the Italian Open, here on Friday.

In front of vocal fans on centre court, the Greek kept his composure as he demonstrated great footwork to dictate with his forehand and move past the 20-year-old in two hours and 24 minutes.

The fourth seed, who also advanced to the last four in 2019, consistently took the ball on the rise and drove his groundstrokes through the court as he countered Sinner's heavy-hitting to improve to 4-1 in their ATP Head to Head series.

Tsitsipas will now face Alexander Zverev in the semifinals after the German downed Cristian Garin 7-5, 6-2. It will be the third time this season that they have played in the semi-finals at a clay-court ATP Masters 1000 event, with the Greek defeating the German en route to the title in Monte Carlo, before Zverev gained revenge in Madrid last week.

Fifth seed Casper Ruud beat 13th seed Denis Shapovalov 7-6 (7), 7-5 in the third quarterfinal.

In the women's section, Iga Swiatek beat 2019 U.S. Open champion Bianca Andreescu 7-6 (2), 6-0 to reach thesemifinals and extend her winning streak to 26 matches.

In all, Swiatek produced 27 winners to Andreescu's 12 and converted all six of her break points.

Swiatek's semifinal opponent will be third-seeded Aryna Sabalenka, who rallied past Amanda Anisimova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 for her first victory over the American in five tries.

Ninth seed Ons Jabeur beat fourth seed Maria Sakkari 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the third quarterfinal of the day.

Also read: King of Clay knocked out of Italian Open by Shapovalov in last-16

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