Sara Errani beat Number 3 seed Daria Gavrilova 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 at the Grand Prix de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem to reach her first semifinal since Charleston 2016, when she was beaten by Elena Vesnina in three sets.
Errani dropped her serve seven times but broke eight times. She was broken twice when she was served for the first set and again when when she was serving for the match.
There were eight breaks and just four holds of serve in the first set. Errani broke serve in the third game. Gavrilova broke straight back to draw level to 2-2. There were six consecutive breaks of serve from the 7th to the 12th games. At 6-5 Errani was just two points away from holding her serve in a hard-fought game. Errani got three mini-breaks to seal a tight tie-break on her first set point after 1 hour and 12 minutes.
Both players traded breaks in the first two games of the second set. After holding her serve in the third game Errani broke serve to 30 to open up a 3-1 lead. Gavrilova broke back at deuce for 2-3 in the fifth game. Errani broke serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead as Gavrilova made a double fault. Gavrilova broke back in the ninth game as Errani was serving for the match. Errani broke again to love in the 10th game with a drop- volley to close out on her first match point after 44 minutes.
“I tried to do my best. It was not an easy match, there are no easy matches here. I am happy for my game. I don’t know when was my last semifinal, so it’s important for me to take confidence”, said Errani.
Errani will face Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova, who battled past Lauren Davis 6-4 3-6 6-3. Pavlyuchenkova broke three times to win the first set and built up an early lead in the second set. Davis fought back to win the second set. The US player got an ealy break to open up a 3-1 lead but Pavlyuchenkova came back by reeling off five consecutive games to take a hard-fought win. Pavlyuchenkova will be bidding to win her first title since Estoril 2013.
“I am happy I am getting some matches on play and playing quite well on clay. It’s different from hardcourts. It’s not easy to make this transition, but I am happy I am back in a semifinal in Rabat”, said Pavlyuchenkova.
The second Italian to qualify for the Rabat semifinal is Francesca Schiavone, who edged past German 29-year-old Tatjana Maria 6-1 4-6 6-3 in 1 hour and 55 minutes. Schiavone will face Varvara Lepchenko in the semifinal. Schiavone reeled off six consecutive games from 0-1 with three breaks in a row in the third, fifth and seventh games to win the first set 6-1. At 1-1 Schiavone rallied from 15-40 to break serve at deuce. At 2-1 she saved a break-back point.
Schiavone broke straight back in the second game of the second set. Maria broke to 30 in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. As Maria was serving for the set at 5-4, she saved four break points before closing out the set by 6-4, when Schiavone sent a passing shot into the net.
Schiavone broke twice in the second game to open up a 3-0 lead, but was broken back to love in the fifth game. In the next game Schiavone broke serve to love. As Schiavone serving for the match at 5-3, she saved a break point at 30-40 before closing out on her first match point with a forehand passing shot.
Schiavone’s next rival Varvara Lepchenko beat 18-year-old Cici Bellis 6-3 6-2 to reach her first WTA semifinal since Stanford in 2015. Bellis was too tired after taking a 7-5 win in the third set over Timea Bacsinszky.
