It’s been a great week so far for Sara in Rome: she is in the semifinals in Singles and Doubles!

While the wins in doubles have come rather comfortably, this has not been the case in singles. In the first round, Sara had to call the trainer for breathing problems, but once she overcame those, she beat Chanelle Scheepers 7-5, 6-3. The second round was probably the easiest match of the tournament, as she beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-2, 6-3 in a match in which Sara hit 20 winners, and only 6 unforced errors. The third round, against Petra Cetkovska was a bit tougher, but with a 6-4, 7-6 win, Sara avoided a 3rd set.

Finally, today in the quarterfinal, Sara played against world #2 Na Li. She had never beaten a player from the top 3 before, but this changed today. In a great match, Sara beat Li 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, showing her usual big fighting spirit in the third set.

“It was an unbelievable match, the crowd helped me so much!”, said Sara after the match. Surely, the crowd will help her again tomorrow when she meets Jelena Jankovic in the semifinal!

You can find a lot of videos with highlights and interview from Rome on the WTA site, and pictures in our photogallery.