Pliskova joins 500-win club with Rome victory over Azarenka

Karolina Pliskova served notice in Rome after defeating fellow former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-2, in the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday to claim her 500th career WTA win.

Pliskova raced to a 4-1 lead but squandered it, allowing Azarenka to claw her way back and force a tiebreak. There, the Czech threw a double fault at 5-6 to hand Azarenka the set. In the second and final sets, Pliskova made sure she kept ahead, closing out the match with back-to-back aces—she fired 11 in total.

The Czech hit an impressive 41 winners to 26 unforced. As for the Belarusian, the serve let he down, hitting seven double faults. She committed 35 errors—Pliskova only made 10 errors in the last two sets.

"The [last] two sets, I don't think it was easy, because the score looked quite easy," Pliskova said. "I just had many chances, more chance than in the first. Also on the returns, I just went for it more. My serve was better actually, and that's why it ended this way."

Azarenka had won their most recent meeting, in Stuttgart, knocking out the then-defending champion Pliskova in three.

Pliskova is looking for her second title of the season, having won Brisbane in January. At the Australian Open, she took out Serena Williams in the quarterfinals, rallying from 1-5 in the third to stun the 23-time Grand Slam champion.

In the semifinals, she will play either Maria Sakkari or Kristina Mladenovic, both qualifiers.

Earlier on Thursday, top-seeded Naomi Osaka withdrew from the tournament with an injured right hand, handing reigning Madrid champion Kiki Bertens a walkover into the semifinals.

"I woke up this morning and couldn't really move my thumb," Osaka said. "I tried to practice and grip my racket but I couldn't, and I kept feeling this pain when I tried to move my hand in different directions."

On the men's side, Roger Federer pulled out of Rome due to a leg injury.