Last year’s runner-up Aryna Sabalenka survived a gritty Marta Kostyuk and an untimely rain interruption to complete a 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) win over the Ukrainian and reach the Madrid Open semi-finals for a fourth time Wednesday.

The top-seeded Sabalenka needed 84 minutes to take the opening set before securing the win in cold, breezy conditions.

Kostyuk saved a match point and broke to take the second set into a tiebreak.

At 5-4 in the breaker, it started to rain and play was halted briefly to close the roof of the Manolo Santana stadium.