By Chris Oddo | Friday, May 15, 2015
Simona Halep raced past Alexandra Dulgheru in Rome and will face Carla Suarez Navarro in the semis.
Photo Source: Mike Hewitt/Getty
Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro kept her run of fine form going on Friday in Rome, cruising to a surprisingly easy victory over world No. 4 and last week’s Madrid Open champion Petra Kvitova, 6-3, 6-2, to book a spot in the semifinals alongside Simona Halep.
Halep has won the last three battles with Suarez Navarro after losing four of the first six to the Spaniard.
On Friday Suarez Navarro saved five of six break points and broke the Czech’s serve five times to earn her 30th match win of the season.
Suarez Navarro could reach the Top 8 if she reaches the final. Having already been to ten quarterfinals this season, the WTA’s first player to hit the 30-win plateau says that being aggressive has been the major difference for her in 2015.
"I'm playing much more aggressive now. I am also feeling much more confident and just enjoying every match I play," Suarez Navarro said, according to WTATennis.com. "I think that I played really solid. But sometimes I was aggressive, which is important against Petra because she hits the ball so well.”
Halep eased into the semis earlier in the day, dropping only one game against her compatriot Alexandra Dulgheru. Halep has dropped just seven games in three matches in Rome, and is looking more and more like a bona fide threat to win Roland Garros every day.
In a surprise result, 21-year-old Russian qualifier took down American Christina McHale, 6-2, 6-4, to continue her surprise run in Rome. The Russian has managed the biggest rankings rise on the ATP Tour this year, and will reach inside the Top 50 on Monday.
She’ll face either Victoria Azarenka or Maria Sharapova in the semifinals on Saturday.
Gavrilova defeated her idol Sharapova in Miami this year. At Rome she had knocked off Ana Ivanovic and Timea Bacsinszky before today’s victory over McHale. s