Aryna Sabalenka overcame pre-match injury doubts in order to reach the Rome semi-finals with a 6-2 6-4 win over Jelena Ostapenko.

The world number two entered the match with injury doubts having grinded past Elina Svitolina a couple of days ago.

However Sabalenka produced a dominant performance to reach her second consecutive semi-final having lost a thrilling final in Madrid last week.

Speaking after the match Sabalenka revealed that she underwent treatment for most of the day before the contest with Ostapenko, “I was testing my body on the warmup and I felt, `OK, I’m probably going to go on the court and play,’” Sabalenka told the WTA website.

“And I’m super happy I was able to play without pain today. Hopefully, with every day I will feel better and better. I would definitely say that was the best performance of the tournament.”

Now Sabalenka aims to win her first title in Rome as she will play her second ever semi-final at the Foro Italico against either Danielle Collins or Victoria Azarenka.

It’s a tournament that Sabalenka thrives on as she told reporters earlier on in the week, “Yeah, I’m super happy to be back in Rome, one of my favorite tournaments,” Sabalenka explained.

“Madrid was tough. Still happy with those couple of weeks and looking forward for here.”

Sabalenka has a combined 9-1 winning record against her potential opponents for the semi-final.

Iga Swiatek says some members of the public ‘want attention and they’re willing to do anything‘ amid the increase in protests taking place during tennis tournaments in recent months. 

Earlier this week at the Italian Open, two matches had to be suspended after climate protesters got onto the court. According to organisers, they threw confetti onto the court and glued themselves to the stands before eventually getting removed from the premises. Climate change activist group Ultima Generazione (Last Generation) claimed responsibility for the protest. In a video posted on social media, they said they wanted to “tirelessly reiterate that the climate and social crisis is here and that intervention is needed as soon as possible.”

It is not the first time such protests have taken place with last year’s Wimbledon tournament also experiencing similar incidents, as well as the Citi Open in Washington and US Open in New York. Protesters chose to disrupt sports events to generate maximum publicity. 

Questioned about any concerns she had for player safety in Rome, world No.1 Swiatek told reporters on Tuesday that the best way to address the issue is to increase security. 

“Probably the best way is to increase security,” she commented after beating Madison Keys 6-1, 6-3. 
“I’m not really sure how the security works because I’ve never had any situation where they had to kind of react when I was on court.
“I didn’t see the protest (earlier this week). I heard that there’s something going on. I don’t know if they were actually close to players or not.
“People want attention and they’re willing to do anything to get it. That’s how our world works right now.”

Elaborating further, Swiatek spoke about the stabbing of Monica Seles during the 1993 Hamburg Open which shocked the sports world. A crazed Steffi Graf fan stabbed the tennis star in her back during a changeover which caused both physical and mental repercussions. After the stabbing, it was more than two years before Seles played a Tour-level match again. 

“When I kind of saw what happened to Monica Seles, I for sure had a couple of weeks where I thought about it sometimes.” She said.
“The only thing you need to do is to trust that, if the situation happens, WTA will be ready with their security to react. That’s all.”

Swiatek will play Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the Italian Open later this week. 

Daniil Medvedev believes there will be more title contenders at the French Open than previous editions with the Russian hoping to be one of them. 

The world No.4 heads into the Grand Slam after what has been a mixed clay swing. Medvedev suffered a third round defeat in Monte Carlo before bouncing back in Madrid where he reached the quarter-finals before retiring from his match with a minor injury. Meanwhile, at this week’s Italian Open, his title defence came to an end in the fourth round on Tuesday when he fell 6-1, 6-4, to Tommy Paul. 

“Mentally I had to be much better,” Medvedev said of his latest performance.
“I started to calm myself down and focus on the match only at the end of the match, and it was too late. I had to do better. I was expecting myself to play better.’
“It’s disappointing, but that’s how sport is. You lose and you go for the next tournament, which is a pretty important one.” He added. 

28-year-old Medvedev recently stated that he is seeing improvements in his game when it comes to playing on the clay. A surface which he has struggled on during stages of his career. Out of the 38 ATP Finals he has contested, only two of those were on the clay. Barcelona in 2019 when he finished runner-up and Rome last year which he won. 

As for the French Open, he has lost in the first round on five out of seven appearances. But did reach the quarter-finals in 2021 and the last 16 the following year. So could 2024 be his year?

“Now it’s maybe a little bit more open than it was ever before,” he said of this year’s event. 
“Good for me, too, because usually in Roland Garros I don’t play that well. The more open it is, the better it is for me.”

All of the top three players on the men’s tour are currently experiencing problems. Novak Djokovic crashed out of the Italian Open and recently underwent a medical assessment after getting hit in the head by a bottle in a freak accident. Jannik Sinner is reportedly on the verge of withdrawing from the French Open due to a hip issue and Carlos Alcaraz has been hindered by a forearm injury in recent weeks. 

“I’m feeling much better on clay,” Medvedev commented. “What is tough for me on clay sometimes is getting used to conditions. Every court – in every tournament in the world – is a bit different.
“On hard courts it’s the same: every court is different. On hard courts I have this ability to kind of quite fast get used to it. On clay, I need more time.”

Medvedev aims to become only the second Russian man in history to win the French Open after Yevgeny Kafelnikov in 1996. The tournament will begin a week on Sunday.