Defending champion Aryna Sabalenka fell on a 6-1 6-4 defeat by Elena Rybakina in the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati open.
The Kazache dominated the opening set and picked up 11 ajes against the world number one before sealing her victory in 74 minutes.
“I am happy with the serve. It was the key today,” said Rybakina.
“I served very well. If she had served well, it would have been a totally different match. It was also intense from the baseline. I hope to continue like this.”
Rybakina, the Wimbledon winner of 2022, will now be confronted with this year’s All England Club Champion in the last four while Iga Swiatek Anna Kalinskaya defeated 6-3 6-4.
Swiatek van Polen, arranged in the world in third place, was always the lead against the Russian, who seemed to be hindered by a calf problem and saved four match points in the penultimate game.
However, Swiatek prevailed to go to her fourth WTA 1,000-level semi-final of the season.
“I just played my game. It wasn’t easy, but I’m glad I stayed solid and kept my intensity,” said the pole.
The French open champion Coco Gauff is out after an error with an error reinforcement in her three-set loss for the Italian Jasmine Paolini.
Gauff took the first set but hit 16 double mistakes, allowing Paolini to break her serve eight times on her way to a comeback 2-6 6-4 6-3 victory.
Seventh seed Paolini, who only converted a distorted in the third set, will be confronted with Veronika Kudermetova in the semi -final.
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