Madrid, April 30 (IANS) Marta Kostyuk extended the best stretch of her career and stormed into her second career WTA 1000 semi-final and first in the Spanish capital with a 7-6(1), 6-0 performance against Czech 13th seed Linda Noskova on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian will next face lucky loser Anastasia Potapova for a spot in her first WTA 1000 final. Kostyuk is 2-2 against Potapova at the WTA Tour level, but she has won their last two meetings in straight sets, including their most recent encounter last year in Madrid. Mirra Andreeva and Hailey Baptiste will meet in the other semifinal.

The first set featured a combined eight breaks of serve – four from each player – and saw both players struggle on serve in cooler temperatures on Manolo Santana Stadium. But Kostyuk caught fire in the breaker and never looked back from then on, sweeping the second set in commanding fashion.

The 23-year-old Kostyuk created 23 break point opportunities on Noskova’s serve throughout the match, converting seven of them.

Contrary to the opening set, Kostyuk faced zero break points and dropped just one point on serve throughout the entire second frame.

Kostyuk made her tournament debut in 2018 and won just one match in her first five main draw appearances before she finally found her footing and reached the quarter-finals at the Caja Magica last year.

This season she is doing even better as she has yet to drop a set this fortnight, which saw her notch some impressive victories, including one over fifth-seeded Jessica Pegula in the round of 32.

The victory against Noskova was Kostyuk’s 10th consecutive victory, building on a win at the Billie Jean King Cup followed by a title run in Rouen on the eve of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Undefeated on clay so far this season, Kostyuk admits this streak has taken her by surprise.

“It sounds unbelievable. If someone told me a few weeks ago that it would happen, I probably wouldn’t believe it, but I’m very thankful for it,” she said after punching her ticket to a semi-final meeting with Anastasia Potapova.

–IANS

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