Unseeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia bounced No. 1 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the Adelaide International semifinals in Australia.
Alexandrova saved five of seven break points and won seven consecutive games during one stretch, improving to 3-1 against Rybakina. Her semifinal foe will be No. 6 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, a 7-5, 6-3 winner against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
The other semifinal pits No. 2 Jessica Pegula and unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina. Pegula rallied for a 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-4 win against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Kasatkina advanced in a walkover after Laura Siegemund of Germany withdrew before the match.
Hobart International
Top seed Elise Mertens of Belgium moved into the semifinals in Hobart, Australia, with a 7-5, 6-0 defeat of Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands.
Mertens saved six of seven break points and won the final eight games of the match. Her semifinal opponent will be unseeded Australian Daria Saville, a 3-6, 6-1 6-4 winner over No. 3 seed Lin Zhu of China.
Second-seeded Emma Navarro and China’s Yue Yuan will meet in the other semi. Navarro overcame a slow start in a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, and Yuan held off Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva 7-5, 7-6 (4).
–Field Level Media