Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine, a week removed from fleeing her war-torn home country with her 15-year-old sister, continued a formidable performance by upsetting Italian fifth seed Jasmine Paolini 6-4, 7-6 (3) on Friday to reach the semifinals at the Open 6e Sens Metropole in Lyon, France.
Yastremska won 18 of 35 second-serve points (51.4 percent), broke her opponent’s serve five times in 10 tries and saved four of eight break points in the back-and-forth match. The 21-year-old led the second set 4-2, fell behind 5-4, then won the next two games before dominating the tiebreaker.
“With everything I’ve been through, I have to push myself and fight to the end,” Yastremska, who had 22 winners, said in her post-match interview. “That’s what I was thinking about in the moments it was pretty tight, or when I felt really tired or a bit stressed. … Every match I play here is nothing to lose. I’m giving everything I have.”
In the semifinals, Yastremska will face No. 2 seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania, the highest seed remaining. Cirstea handled Anna Bondar of Hungary 6-3, 6-3 in the quarters.
Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia rallied to upset No. 7 seed Alison Van Uytvanck of Belgium 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, and will meet Chinese eighth seed Shuai Zhang, who advanced when opponent Vitalia Diatchenko retired early in the first set.
–Field Level Media