MADRID — Top-ranked Simona Halep lost to Karolina Pliskova 6-4, 6-3 in the Madrid Open quarterfinals on Thursday.
Halep was the two-time defending champion and on a 15-match winning streak at the clay-court tournament.
But Pliskova gave the Romanian no chance, breaking her serve four times and hitting 20 winners.
"This was one of my best matches of the year," the sixth-seeded Pliskova said. "I feel amazing since in the last six matches I lost to her. I never thought I would beat her. My serve was great and everything went my way."
Pliskova won her 10th career title in April, when the Czech was victorious on clay in Stuttgart.
[relatedlinks]