ANOTHER big day of action at both the Strasbourg and Rabat Open fantasy tennis culminated with some interesting results, with young talent proving too good at one tournament and experienced names reigning supreme at the other. All five American competitors across the two competitions were knocked out, making for an interesting round of contests.

At Strasbourg, Victoria Azarenka was the only player to win against her younger opponent in Qiang Wang, who put in a solid effort against the Belarusian. The three-setter was one of three for the day – two at Strasbourg – and saw the Chinese representative be a force to be reckoned with in the first and second before fading out, seeing Azarenka take the cake, 7-6 4-6 6-4. She will take on seventh seed Dayana Yastremska in the semi-finals after the Ukrainian talent defeated top seed Sofia Kenin in straight sets, 6-2 6-4.

Also in hot form was Iga Swiatek who dominated against Sloane Stephens, coming away with an identical scoreline to Yastremska’s victory and used her stellar attacking gameplay to batter Stephens and deny her from capitalising on winning points. Taking on Swiatek for a spot in the final is Aryna Sabalenka, with the Russian defeating Kenin and Stephens’ compatriot, Madison Keys in the second three-setter of the day. Third seed Sabalenka was dealt with the same end score in 7-6 4-6 6-4 to that of her Belarusian counterpart in Azarenka, and while the story went a little differently – with Keys dominating the early stages of the final set, carrying momentum from her second set win but unable to hold on to victory.

At Rabat it was a different story, with all bar one match won in straight sets and fairly consistent at that. Taylor Townsend put in a valiant effort against Johanna Konta but it was to no avail against the experienced Brit, going down in three sets after winning the first, 4-6 7-6 7-6. But Townsend was no easy beat as Konta discovered, with the American talent producing a stellar comeback late in the second set to take Konta to a tiebreaker, before replicating that form early in the third to lead all comers. But Konta was not to be underestimated, coming back from 2-5 down to win the third set tiebreaker. Konta will take on Maria Sakkari in the semi-final tomorrow after the Greek talent downed Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets, 6-4 6-4. Sakkari never looked like losing, so will be in for a tough battle against Konta.

 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova had a much easier go of it against Tamara Zidansek, who was solid to begin but entirely faded out in the second set to allow the Russian talent an easy look into the semi-finals, 6-4 6-0. She will take on Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann for a position in the Rabat Open final after the 22-year-old downed Coco Vandeweghe. While Vandeweghe came in hot, winning the first couple of games to extend a solid lead and almost definitely win the first set, Teichmann proved she is more than capable of performing with a stellar comeback to win the first set tiebreaker. The second set saw Teichmann latch onto that momentum, collecting the 7-6 6-1 victory over the American to head into the semi-finals.

Depending on how the results go, we could be seeing an all-Belarusian final at one tournament and an all-seeded battle at the other, with plenty of quality players heading into the semis and all well within their ability to take out the title.

STRASBOURG OPEN QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[7] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated [1] Sofia Kenin (USA) 6-2 6-4
[3] Aryna Sabalenka (BLR) defeated [6] Madison Keys (USA) 7-6 4-6 6-4
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) defeated Qiang Wang (CHN) 7-6 4-6 6-4
Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated Sloane Stephens (USA) 6-2 6-4

RABAT GRAND PRIX QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Johanna Konta (GBR) defeated Taylor Townsend (USA) 4-6 7-6 7-6
[5] Maria Sakkari (GRE) defeated [3] Marketa Vondrousova (CZE) 6-4 6-4
[8] Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) defeated Tamara Zidansek (SLO) 6-4 6-0
[Q] Jil Teichmann (SUI) defeated Coco Vandeweghe (USA) 7-6 6-1