No. 11 seed Karolina Muchova halted No. 3 seed Elena Rybakina’s 13-match win streak and reached the Brisbane International semifinals with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 win Friday in Australia.
Muchova took advantage of seven double faults by Kazakhstan’s Rybakina and earned the match’s decisive service break in the penultimate game. The Czech’s reward is a date with No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who eased to a 6-3, 6-3 win against No. 5 Madison Keys.
No. 4 Jessica Pegula will meet No. 16 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine in the other semifinal of the season-opening event. Pegula defeated 10th-seeded Russian Liudmila Samsonova 6-3, 7-6 (3) and Kostyuk upended No. 6 Mirra Andreeva of Russia 7-6 (7), 6-3.
ASB Classic
Top-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine edged Britain’s Sonay Kartal 6-4, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (5) in two hours and 36 minutes to advance to the semifinals in Auckland, New Zealand.
Svitolina overcame a 4-2 deficit in the first set and a 5-3 hole in the third set to prevail. Up next is No. 3 Iva Jovic, who saved eight of 11 break points in a 6-2, 7-6 (6) win over Belgium’s Sofia Costoulas.
No. 4 Alexandra Eala of the Philippines will square off with No. 7 Xinyu Wang of China in Saturday’s other semifinal. Eala saved five of seven break points in a 6-3, 6-2 win over No. 5 Magda Linette of Poland, while Want was leading Francesca Jones 6-4, 4-3 when the Englishwoman retired.
–Field Level Media
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