THE quarter finals produced some quality matches, with Elina Svitolina the frontrunner given her consistency and seeding, but with Carla Suarez Navarro, Kiki Bertens and Iga Swiatek still firing from all cylinders, there is no reason why Svitolina’s lower ranked opposition cannot take out victory. 

Svitolina may have had a slow start against Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova, but the second seed Ukrainian more than proved she had the better of Pliskova, backing up a solid second set with a much more consistent third to win 3-6 6-4 6-3. Svitolina takes on 13th seed Bertens in the semi finals, after the Dutch talent defeated 32nd seed Yulia Putintseva in straight sets and registered the quickest win of the day. 

Suarez Navarro continued her impressive run with another quality win over a seeded opposition in Johanna Konta, now having beaten four seeds on her way to the semi-finals. While Konta kept up well throughout, she just could not compete with the hungry Spaniard who ran away with the 6-4 6-4 victory. Joining Suarez Navarro in the next round is Polish young gun Swiatek after the 27th seed defeated 21st seed Dayana Yastremska in another quick match. It was a bit too close for comfort for Swiatek in the second, dropping the first three games before coming back well to take out the 6-3 6-4 match.

While the match between Svitolina and Bertens will draw plenty of attention, it will be an interesting battle in the second semi-final with two competitors in Suarez Navarro and Swiatek going head to head and both having never made a grand slam semi-final, let alone made it past that hurdle. With one player in the twilight of her career and the other only just beginning, the match will be a massive one for both competitors.

QUARTER FINALS:

[2] Elina Svitolina (UKR) defeated [10] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 3-6 6-4 6-3
[13] Kiki Bertens (NED) defeated [32] Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) 6-3 6-2
Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) defeated [20] Johanna Konta (GBR) 6-4 6-4
[27] Iga Swiatek (POL) defeated [21] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) 6-3 6-4