Svitolina books Strasbourg semi, rain thwarts Sabalenka & Siniakova

Elina Svitolina progressed to the semi-finals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg but will have to wait until Friday to find out her opponent after rain suspended play between Aryna Sabalenka and Katerina Siniakova.

Number two seed Svitolina was made to work hard for her 6-4 6-3 victory over Jil Teichmann, battling back from a break down in both sets.

The world number five took an hour and 23 minutes to secure her first semi-final for six months.

"It was a great fight from Jil and I think both of us were playing at a really good level at some points," Svitolina said.

"I was fighting. I didn't start the match very well, but I was trying to be very focused and fight back. In the end, I'm very happy with how I handled the match."

Sabalenka and Siniakova will resume their contest on Friday after the latter claimed the first set 6-2. Play was suspended due to rain with the Czech 2-1 down in the second but serving next.

The other semi-final will be contested by fifth seed Elena Rybakina, who defeated Zhang Shuai 6-3 6-2, and Nao Hibino, who ousted 2017 French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-4).

Point info : le match entre @K_Siniakova et @SabalenkaA reprendra demain et suivra le premier match du jour qui aura lieu à 10h.#IS20 #WTA Michel Grasso / C'est qui Maurice ? pic.twitter.com/ao2DAIvKSx

— WTA Strasbourg (@WTA_Strasbourg) September 24, 2020