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Navarro and Badosa fall short of Strasbourg semis

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Elena Rybakina is the highest-ranked player in the Internationaux de Strasbourg semi-finals after two top-10 stars fell at the quarter-final stage.

While Rybakina made light work of Magda Linette on Thursday, winning 7-5 6-3 without losing a break point, second seed Emma Navarro and third seed Paula Badosa were each eliminated.

Navarro took the opening set in her clash with Beatriz Haddad Maia, but the Brazilian battled back admirably to claim her first top-10 win of the season.

After three hours and two minutes, Haddad Maia prevailed 3-6 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 to set up a clash with Rybakina on Friday.

On the other side of the draw, Badosa also went down in three sets, being beaten 6-4 3-6 6-4 by Liudmila Samsonova but showing signs of encouragement after her recent back issues.

Badosa had not played since the Miami Open, pulling out of the subsequent events in Madrid and Rome, yet has given herself the opportunity now to get set for a French Open first-round clash with Naomi Osaka.

Before the clay-court major, Samsonova will continue her Strasbourg campaign against Danielle Collins in the last four.

Collins benefited from a walkover against Anna Kalinskaya in the quarters.