Sawt Falasteen - Andreeva sinks Swiatek to meet top seed Rybakina in Stuttgart semis

Rybakina, the 2024 Stuttgart winner, needed three hours to get past Fernandez 6-7 (5/7), 6-4, 7-6 (8/6), saving two match points in the final-set tiebreak.

Earlier Andreeva rallied past two-time Stuttgart champion Iga Swiatek 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

"Especially in the beginning there was a lot of frustration. I was just going downhill. The serve was not going," Rybakina said.

"Somehow I found the fight in me and a couple of points were important in the second set. And somehow I started finding this momentum."

Swiatek has won four of her six Grand Slams on the French Open clay and was considered among the favourites but struggled against the energetic Russian.

The Pole capitalised on some clumsy baseline errors from her opponent to win the opening set but Andreeva converted a crucial break point to take the second set.

Swiatek ran out to a two-game lead in the deciding set but Andreeva broke back twice to take the initiative, and the match.

The 18-year-old rising star also eliminated defending champion Jelena Ostapenko in the first round of the tournament.

"She's won so many tournaments I can't even count how many Slams she's won... she's a past winner of this tournament as well," Andreeva said.

"I was telling myself: 'No matter what's happening, I have to keep fighting and keep believing. I can win from any score."

- Gauff crashes -

Earlier Karolina Muchova broke through for a first win over Coco Gauff, eliminating the reigning French Open champion 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 to reach the Stuttgart semi-finals for the first time.

The 12th-ranked Muchova will face Elina Svitolina for a place in the final.

Muchova had never beaten world number three Gauff in six matches, including a loss in the fourth round of this year's Australian Open, but prevailed for the first time.

After ensuring Gauff exited the tournament in the quarter-finals for the third straight year, Muchova said she tried not to let the daunting record impact her preparation.

"It was a great fight. I'm just happy that I finally, finally beat her," Muchova said.

"This was actually our first match on a clay court. On clay we were 0-0 in the matches -- I tried to keep it positive."

Fourth seed Svitolina moved past Czech Linda Noskova 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 to book her semi-final spot.

The in-form Ukrainian has now reached five semi-finals this season.

Svitolina told reporters she had re-discovered her fighting spirit after a difficult 2025.

"I had a really difficult end of last year, struggling a bit mentally," Svitolina said.

"I think my fighting spirit is back this year. I'm very pleased with that."

L.Hussein--SF-PST