Unseeded Ukrainian Lesia Tsurenko advanced to the final four of the Thailand Open by beating German sixth seed Tatjana Maria 6-1, 6-1 on Friday in Hua Hin, Thailand.
Tsurenko, who upset No. 4 seed Anna Kalinskaya of Russia in the previous round, won a whopping 72.4 percent of her first-service points (21 of 29) and converted six break points in 10 opportunities to oust Maria.
In the semifinals, Tsurenko will face No. 1 seed Bianca Andreescu of Canada, who was a 6-0, 7-6 (3) winner over Ukrainian fifth seed Marta Kostyuk. Andreescu led 5-1 in the second set but had to come back after Kostyuk won five straight games to briefly move ahead. The Canadian then rallied from a 2-0 deficit to start the tiebreak.
China’s Xinyu Wang and Lin Zhu will meet in the other semifinal match. Wang, the No. 7 seed, outlasted Heather Watson of Great Britain 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-4. Zhu beat Tamara Zidansek of Slovenia 6-2, 6-2.
Open 6e Sens-Metropole
No. 1 seed Caroline Garcia of France fended off Italy’s Jasmine Paolini 7-5, 7-5 to reach the semifinals in Lyon, France.
Garcia hit nine aces and converted 3 of 7 break points en route to the narrow win in one hour and 46 minutes. She will face Camila Osorio in the next round after the Colombian beat Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 7-6 (3).
American Alycia Parks also continued her stellar week. After upsetting fourth seed Petra Martic of Croatia in the second round, Parks took down No. 7 seed Danka Kovinic of Montenegro 7-5, 6-2 in the quarterfinals.
Next, Parks will meet Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska, who rallied to beat fifth seed Anastasia Potapova of Russia 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
–Field Level Media