By Richard Pagliaro | Thursday, May 10, 2018
Karolina Pliskova powered to a twin triumph snapping one streak and stretching another.
Pliskova swept Simona Halep, 6-4, 6-3, snapping the two-time defending champion's 15-match Madrid winning streak, and powering into the semifinals for the first time.
Watch: Is Sharapova Reloading or Regressing?
The Stuttgart champion extended her winning streak to nine—equaling her second-longest winning streak, set in January 2017 when she won Brisbane and reached the Australian Open quarterfinals.
Setting the tone with her dynamic serve, Pliskova served 70 percent, won 80 percent of her first-serve points and was broken once in a dominant 69-minute victory. It was the 2016 US Open finalist's first win over since the 2016 Fed Cup.
Despite the defeat, the top-seeded Halep will retain her world No. 1 ranking when the new WTA rankings are released on Monday. Halep out-performed second-ranked Caroline Wozniacki, who fell to Kiki Bertens, 6-2, 6-2, yesterday.
A day after Halep swept left-hander Kristyna Pliskova, Karolina's twin sister, the right-handed Karolina took the court armed with a meager 1-6 career record against the Romanian.
None of that mattered much to the WTA ace leader.
Dropping serve in her opening service game, Pliskova put the hammer down permitting just one point on serve the rest of the set. Pliskova produced three consecutive love holds to close a quality set.
The sixth-seeded Pliskova will play either Czech Fed Cup teammate Petra Kvitova or 14th-seeded Russian Daria Kasatkina for a place in the final.
Caroline Garcia opened today's play punishing Carla Suárez Navarro, 6-2, 6-3, in 77 minutes.
"It's never easy to play someone like Carla," Garcia said. "Carla is playing well in Spain and the fans were cheering for her and she was in confidence from the two matches she had. So it was difficult conditions and I had to be focused on myself and tried to play good and improved from yesterday and I was solid enough to win in two sets."
The seventh-ranked Frenchwoman will play Bertens for a trip to her first Madrid final.
The unseeded Bertens beat 2014 champion Maria Sharapova, 4-6 6-2 6-3.
"Bertens always plays her best on clay," Garcia said. "She likes clay, she is moving very well on this surface and is using well the topspin on serve and forehand."