Julia Goerges recovered from early deficits in each set and improved her powerful serving as time went on, securing her place in the final four in New Haven with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Makarova.
Later, Aryna Sabalenka booked a spot in the semifinals for a second straight week with a 6-3, 6-2 win over lucky loser Belinda Bencic, to set up a semifinal with the ninth ranked German.
Goerges, the Wimbledon semifinalist and No. 5 seed in Connecticut, hit 28 winners to 25 unforced errors and forced 11 break points. She put just 54 percent of first serves in play, but picked up that number significantly after a woeful start — she had made just two first serves midway through her second service game, and she made only 30 percent in the entire set.
Goerges broke right back after losing her opening service game, then secured another break at 4-4. She then served out the set with just her second ace, but again lost her first service game in the subsequent set.
From there, she played her best tennis. She won the final six games, breaking Makarova three times and facing no break points in her final three service games. The German, fittingly, closed the match with an ace on her first match point.
It was a smoother match for Goerges than the two-plus hour, three-set victory against Dayana Yastremska on Tuesday. Makarova, meanwhile, could not maintain the form that saw her roll past Karolina Pliskova and Magdalena Rybarikova.
Later in the afternoon, Sabalenka turned her match firmly in her favor midway through the first set. After falling behind 0-40 at 3-3, Sabalenka appeared to drop serve when Bencic thought a Sabalenka forehand went long. But the challenge was unsuccessful, Bencic disliked the umpire’s decision to give Sabalenka the point and the Belarussian staved off two more break points.
The 20-year-old broke in the next game, then hit a pinpoint backhand winner on set point a few moments later. The second set then proceeded in similar fashion: Bencic failed to capitalize on break chances at 2-2, then double faulted away the break in the next game. Sabalenka quickly wrapped up the match in the ensuing games, requiring just 64 minutes to complete the job.
