Marrakech, Morocco (SportsNetwork.com) – Fourth-seeded Ukrainian Elina
Svitolina snuck into the semifinals, while a pair of top-three seeds, Timea
Bacsinszky and Flavia Pennetta, suffered quarterfinal setbacks Thursday
at the Moroccan Grand Prix tennis event.
Seventh-seeded Slovak Anna Karolina Schmiedlova upended the No. 2 seed
Bacsinszky, of Switzerland, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, while Hungarian Timea Babos
ousted the third-seeded Italian Pennetta 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 at this clay-court
tournament.
Svitolina avoided an upset by outlasting Italian Karin Knapp 6-0, 3-6, 6-3,
while one other quarterfinal saw France’s Kristina Mladenovic ease past
Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena 6-4, 6-1.
Friday’s semifinals will pit Svitolina against Schmiedlova and Mladenovic
versus Babos.
The 2015 Marrakech champion will earn $43,000.
