Paris. Second seeds Aryna Sabalenka and Karolina Muchova won their respective quarter-finals to book their first semi-final berth at the French Open where the two players will face each other on Thursday. Sabalenka beat Yelina Svitolina 6-4, 6-4, while unseeded Muchova defeated 2021 runner-up Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-5, 6-2 to seal a place in the last four. Both players have reached the semi-finals of this Grand Slam for the first time. Earlier, their best performance at Roland Garros was to reach the third round.
Ukrainian player Svitolina did not shake hands with her Belarus opponent after losing the match. A section of the audience protested vociferously against his act. Belarus has openly supported Russia on the Ukraine attack. Sabalenka is yet to drop a set in the tournament. In the previous match, fatigue dominated Pavlyuchenkova’s game against Muchova. Their previous bout had lasted more than three hours.
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He easily succumbed in the second set of the match. After breaking Muchova in the first set, Pavlyuchenkova tried to come back in the second set. He hit some powerful field shots but found it difficult to come back from 1-4 down. Muchova reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open two years ago.
