World No 1 Iga Swiatek made the semifinals of a grass-court tournament for the first time by beating Anna Blinkova in Bad Homburg on Thursday.
Swiatek defeated the Russian ninth seed 6-3, 6-2 in the first meeting between the two players.
The four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to get past the fourth round of Wimbledon, which starts on Monday, although she was junior champion at the All England Club in 2018.
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On Thursday, the Pole broke Blinkova once in the first set and twice in the second.
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Throughout the match she demonstrated a notable improvement to her serve compared to when she crashed out to Alize Cornet in the Wimbledon third round last year.