The semifinalists of the Palermo Ladies Open was decided on Friday as the four quarterfinals were played. The winners were top seed Petra Martic, fourth seed Anett Kontaveit as well as two unseeded players: Fiona Ferro and home country favorite Camila Giorgi.
Three of the four matches were close with two going the full three sets. The semifinals will see Martic face Kontaveit while Ferro will take on Giorgi.
Martic, Kontaveit set up semifinal showdown
Martic battled her way into the last four with a tough 7-6 (5), 7-6 (3) victory over qualifier Aliaksandra Sasnovich. The Croat struck 54 winners as she recovered from a break down in the first set as well as failing to serve out the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set to come through in two hours, 18 minutes.
"Overall, it was a good fight", she said. "I knew she wasn't going to give up until the match was over, and that's what she proved once again. I think today was better than yesterday. There were some things I was happy with, some things that I'm not really with...but I'm really just happy I managed to win this match in two sets."
Kontaveit overcame a spirited challenge from Italian wild card Elisabetta Cocciaretto, winning 6-1, 4-6, 6-1. Needing just a half hour to claim the opening set, the Estonian took the first five games before watching the 19-year old race out to a 3-0 lead in the second set. Four straight breaks of serve at the end of the set saw the world number 156 level the set before Kontaveit recovered to take the last four games of the third set to wrap up the win in one hour, 54 minutes.
"It was really tough tonight", the world number 24 said. "She played great and she had the home crowd definitely behind her. I'm really happy with how I fought in the third set and that I managed to turn it around in the end. I was really happy with the way I bounced back from that (second set loss) and started in the third set and felt like I played good tennis."
Ferro eases past Errani; Giorgi outlasts Yastremska
Ferro notched her third straight straight sets win of the week with a convincing 6-4, 6-1 victory over Sara Errani, firing off 41 winners and converting six of ten break points. The Frenchwoman won nine of the final ten games to wrap up the match in 88 minutes.
"I was trying to be more patient, because in the beginning, I think I was rushing things a little bit", Ferro said. "So I just tried to take my time more, and it worked. It was good at the end of the first set, I started to play a great level of tennis, so I was happy about that."
Giorgi and seventh seed Dayana Yastremska played the match of the tournament with the Italian saving three match points to record an epic 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3 victory over the Ukrainian in two hours, 52 minutes.
"It was more mental, the match, because I was very close always", Giorgi said. "I needed to take the chances in the right way. I took them in the match points for her, and I started to be more aggressive in my game and tried to move forward, and I tried to dominate the game."