Top seed Jessica Pegula dropped her first set before charging back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Friday to make the semifinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.
Pegula saved six of seven break points and won 39 of her 49 first-service points (79.6 percent). The fourth-ranked player in the world, Pegula is seeking her second title in Washington after winning her maiden WTA title there in 2019.
Pegula will face the winner between fourth seed Maria Sakkari of Greece and seventh seed Madison Keys, a quarterfinal match that was just beginning Thursday evening. Sakkari completed a 7-5, 6-2 second-round victory over Canadian Leylah Fernandez earlier in the day after their match was postponed Thursday night due to rain.
No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine.
Livesport Prague Open
No. 4 seed Linda Noskova needed a mere 54 minutes to dispatch Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2 and reach the semifinals in her native Czech Republic.
Noskova is the final seeded player standing in the bracket. Next up, she will face Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, who ousted No. 6 seed Alize Cornet of France 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The other semifinal match will pit Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian against Japan’s Nao Hibino. Cristian outlasted Ukrainian eighth seed Kateryna Baindl 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, and Hibino knocked out Czech foe Tereza Martincova 6-1, 6-2 in just 69 minutes.
–Field Level Media