Two-time champion Elina Svitolina completed the quarterfinal lineup at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday night with 6-4, 6-2 victory over No.12 seed Garbiñe Muguruza.
Quick and comprehensive over an hour and 15 minutes, Svitolina hit 23 winners to just 11 unforced errors and broke serve seven times.
"I was just trying to find my good game, trying to move quick, trying to be aggressive at the same time," Svitolina said after the match.
"When I play against some big hitters like Petra [Kvitova], Garbiñe, Aryna [Sabalenka] as well, they are really taking big swings. You have no time to do anything, so you have to be really quick, you have to be on your toes all the time, try to get your own, create your own opportunities.
"That's why I was going into the match with an aggressive mindset. I think in the end I was really composed and really tough on the important moments."
The No.5 seed led for much of the opening set, as she set the tone by breaking Muguruza in the Spaniard's first service game to lead 2-0.
In a set that had seven service breaks in all, Muguruza worked her way back level to 4-4 before Svitolina finally wrapped up a one-set lead, and Svitolina later won five straight games from a break down at 2-1 in the second set to win the match.
"I had to work. I had to find this edge, to find this good game because I think I missed few chances to get an earlier lead in the first set," Svitolina said.
"I think I got some chances and I played maybe not right at some moments. Obviously Garbiñe, she's a great champion, so she took her chances in the end. I was leading all the time. That's why it was a bit frustrating that I couldn't serve it out a couple of games where I had the game points, was really dominating the game, then just let her back into the game. This was a bit disappointing.
"She was fighting and she was trying to find her own game, so this was a good fight, some really tough moments in the first set. I was happy I hold and was still really aggressive."
Rounding out the quarterfinalists is unseeded Jelena Ostapenko, who came from a set down to beat Angelique Kerber, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The Latvian also trailed 3-1 in the final set, and hit a staggering 51 winners in two hours and 11 minutes.
"She was playing really well today. It was tough conditions also. It was very windy. Right in the first game, I felt it was much tougher to play today... especially on serve I felt it a lot," Ostapenko said after the match.
"I think the key today was that I stayed aggressive even I was losing some points and missing some balls. I was still staying aggressive in the deciding moments. I think the last game I won because I was staying aggressive and it helped me.
"I think for sure that gives me a lot of confidence because I was losing 3-1 in the third set. I was fighting like every point. It was deuce, advantage in one game, a very long game, a very important one. I never gave up. I was fighting till the last moment. I was just there on the court, trying to play my best and be aggressive even, as I said, when I missed it."
For the spot in the semifinals, her first since her first since winning the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open in 2019, the former French Open champion will next face Karolina Pliskova for the second time in the last four weeks.
Pliskova leads the overall head-to-head, 4-3, but Ostapenko beat her in the second round of last year's French Open.
"I think it's going to be completely different match. Angie was running so well today, getting all the balls back. Not just getting them back, but hitting some great winners from crazy positions," Ostapenko said.
"Karolina is really good player, too. Her game is more kind of built on the serve, I guess. I know how to play against her. We played already this year in Stuttgart. Of course, it's going to be much more different because we're outdoors. There, I mean, she played incredible match, served so many aces. I guess here it's going to be a little bit different, especially if there is some wind.
"I'll just try to play my game and serve well, just try to break her serve couple times in a set, then I can show my best and have opportunities then."
