Sofia Kenin knocked out No. 3 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-0, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Friday to advance to the Toray Pan Pacific Open semifinals in Tokyo.
Kenin trailed 5-2 in the deciding set and fought off four match points to force the tiebreak, withstanding a dozen aces by the Russian to win in two hours and 17 minutes.
Kenin will face No. 5 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, who rallied for a 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 win against No. 8 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic. No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan dispatched Canada’s Victoria Mboko 6-3, 7-6 (4) and will meet sixth-seeded Czech Linda Noskova, who was leading 6-0, 1-0 when Russia’s Anna Kalinskaya was forced to retire.
Guangzhou Open
Americans went 2-2 in the quarterfinals in Guangzhou, China, with No. 2 seed Ann Li and Claire Liu advancing to the semifinals.
Li defeated Italy’s Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-3, 6-4 to set up a meeting with China’s Shuai Zhang, who outlasted unseeded American Katie Volynets 7-6 (5), 5-7, 7-5 in two hours and 53 minutes.
Liu rallied for a 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 victory against Germany’s Ella Seidel and will take on Australia’s Lulu Sun, who also came from behind for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 defeat of Caty McNally of the U.S.
–Field Level Media
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