Bad Homberg Open: Swiatek scores 10th successive win to reach first grass court semifinal

Bad Homburg (Germany), June 30 World No. 1 Iga Swiatek defeated Anna Blinkova in straight sets for her 10th consecutive victory and a place in the semifinals at the Bad Homberg Open here.

Three-time French Open winner Swiatek, who is hoping to break new ground on grass this season, reached her first semifinals on the surface with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Blinkova in the quarterfinals. She will face Italy's Lucia Bronzetti next for a spot in her first grass-court final.

Playing her first tournament since her successful title defense at Roland Garros, Swiatek extended her current win streak to 10 matches with this victory over Blinkova. Making her Bad Homburg debut, Swiatek dropped her first set against Tatjana Maria in her opening match but has lost just 11 games across six sets since.

In her first clash with Blinkova, Swiatek eased through her opening service games before breaking for a 4-2 lead in the first set. Serving at 75 per cent first serves in for the match, the Polish player went unbroken for her sixth consecutive set in Bad Homburg.

Swiatek finished the match in 72 minutes, hitting 24 winners to just seven unforced errors. Blinkova, who broke through to make the Round of 16 at Roland Garros earlier this month, finished with seven winners to 13 unforced errors.

The second semifinal will feature American Emma Navarro, who advanced to her first tour-level semifinal after Rebaka Masarova was forced to retire due to a knee injury, leading 7-6(2), 1-1. The 22-year-old World No.60 will face either No.2 seed Liudmila Samsonova or Katerina Siniakova.

After splitting the first two sets, Samsonova and Siniakova saw their quarterfinal suspended due to poor light and will finish that match on Friday.

--IANS

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