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• Sabalenka overcomes injury concerns to reach Rome semi-finals

  Aryna Sabalenka is through to her second Italian Open semi-final after a straight-sets victory over Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday.

  The Belarusian, who recovered from a lower back injury sustained in her previous match against Elina Svitolina, breezed through 6-2, 6-4 after just 72 minutes on the court.

  Sabalenka broke her serve in the third and fifth games, with Ostapenko opening the door with two double faults, while a single break in the seventh game settled the second set.

  The second seed almost let it slip with her only double fault but came back with two big serves to close out the win.

  Sabalenka will face Danielle Collins or Victoria Azarenka in the semi-final on Friday. 

  Data Debrief: Top 10

  Sabalenka (10) has become only the second player to reach 10 or more WTA-1000 semi-finals since the start of the 2020 season, along with Iga Swiatek (16).

  With Sabalenka joining Swiatek and Coco Gauff, it is the first time the WTA’s top three players have reached the semi-final at the same WTA event since Roland Garros in 2013 – excluding the WTA Tour Finals.

  Sabalenka has spent the most time out on the court in WTA clay events in 2024, with this match bringing her up to 25 hours and 34 minutes.

   

• Gauff sets up Swiatek semi-final meeting after downing Zheng in Rome

  Coco Gauff will have the chance to down world number one Iga Swiatek after progressing to the Italian Open semi-finals with Tuesday's victory over Qinwen Zheng.

  The 20-year-old breezed into the last-four draw in Rome after her straight-sets victory over Zheng, winning 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.

  Gauff faced just one break point throughout the match, failing to hold her serve at 5-3 up as seven-seed Zhen battled back in the first set.

  Yet Gauff eased through the tie-break and never looked back from there on, teeing up a meeting with Swiatek, who overcame Madison Keys in straight sets in her quarter-final clash.

  Data Debrief: Young Gauff powers on

  No player has won more matches than Gauff (61) in WTA-1000 events before turning 21, since the introduction of the format in 2009, as the American moved past Caroline Wozniacki (60) with victory here.

  Wozniacki (eight) is also the only player to manage more WTA-1000 semi-final appearances before her 21th birthday, with Gauff's last-four qualification here taking her onto six – one ahead of Swiatek.

• Medvedev's Italian Open title defence ended by Paul in Rome

  Tommy Paul stunned defending champion Daniil Medvedev at the Italian Open on Tuesday.

  Paul needed just one hour and 13 minutes to down Medvedev 6-1 6-4 to secure his first victory over a top-20 opponent and reach the quarter-finals.

  Medvedev could not get going from the start, and was broken in all three of his service games in the opening set as Paul cruised into the lead.

  And even after a brief resurgence at the start of the second set, Medvedev could not prevent his opponent from reeling off four successive games to pave the way for a memorable win.

  Paul, who is into his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final on clay, will face Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the last four.

  Data Debrief: Zverev brings up 10th Masters QF

  While Medvedev crashed out, Alexander Zverev had no such trouble, as he claimed a straight sets win over Nuno Borges.

  Zverev has now equalled Michael Chang in 10th place for the most quarter-finals made (28) in ATP Masters 1000 events since the format's introduction in 1990.