Top seeds Alcaraz and Swiatek reach Madrid Open semifinals

Carlos Alcaraz made sure he will get to celebrate his 20th birthday on the court at the Madrid Open come FridayThe defending champion overcame a tough test from Karen Khachanov on Wednesday rallying late in the second set for a hardfought 64 75 win that set up a semifinal against Borna Coric on his birthdayIt was Alcarazs 150th tourlevel match and his 117th victory to leave him with a winning percentage 7837 currently better than the likes of Pete Sampras Boris Becker and Andre AgassiAlso ReadKyrgios helps police catch man who allegedly stole his TeslaMy dream in tennis right now is to become one of the best tennis players in history Alcaraz said I know that this is a big dream it probably is too big But in this world you have to dream big and you have to think big as well I want to be part of the the best tennis players in history And I will work for itWomens No 1 Iga Swiatek also made it to the last four in the Spanish capital cruising to a 60 63 win over Petra MarticAlcaraz was down 41 and 52 in the final set before winning the final five games to secure his fourth straightset victory in Madrid The topseeded Spaniard improved to 272 this year having dropped only one set in his last 19 victories He will be playing in his third Masters 1000 semifinals of the seasonI knew I had to keep fighting no matter what Alcaraz said I had to stay strong because I knew that I would have my opportunities and gladly I took advantage of the first one that I had to close out the matchAlcaraz converted on his first match point after the 10thseeded Khachanov had taken control of the second set with an early break The Russian had two break opportunities to go up 51 before Alcaraz rallied for the victory The Spaniard who finished with 31 winners had converted on his first break opportunity to go up 43 and win the first setAlcaraz had cruised past last years runnerup Alexander Zverev in the previous round while Khachanov a semifinalist at the Australian Open this year and at the US Open last year had beaten fifthseeded Andrey RublevAlcaraz is trying to become the first player this season to win two Masters 1000 titles after having already lifted the trophy in Indian Wells He successfully defended his title in Barcelona and also won in Buenos AiresIf Alcaraz wins the title again in Madrid he will regain the No 1 spot in the world rankings if he plays at least one match in RomeCoric the 17th seed made it to the semifinals with a 63 63 win over Daniel AltmaierSwiatek was in control from the start against the 27thseeded Martic who had upset 2021 French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova in the previous roundSwiatek won the first seven games and needed just over an hour to make it to her first semifinal in MadridI feel like Im playing better and better every dayiquest Swiatek said This is pretty great because I didnt know if that was going to be possible at the beginning of the tournament But I was patient and I was hoping to get that feeling and today was for sure a good daySwiatek will next face Veronika Kudermetova who reached the semifinals of a WTA 1000 event for the first time by upsetting thirdseeded Jessica Pegula 64 06 64It was the fourth consecutive threeset win for the 12thseeded Kudermetova who came to Madrid on a fourmatch losing streakI feel so happy and proud of myself because every match I played three sets the fifthranked Kudermetova said Before this match every match was almost three hours Today only two hours I feel freshPegula was trying to reach her second consecutive final in Madrid She was runnerup to Ons Jabeur at the claycourt tournament last yearThe American struggled on her serve and showed frustration at times including by knocking her racket onto the ground She was broken three times in both the first and third sets though needed only 22 minutes to get through the second as Kudermetova won only five pointsThe last player to reach the Madrid semifinals by winning four straight threeset matches was Dominika Cibulkova in 2016 when she was runnerup to Simona HalepSecondseeded Aryna Sabalenka faces ninthseeded Maria Sakkari in the other womensThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever