Italian qualifier Camila Giorgi knocked out top seed Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals at the Viking International Eastbourne grass-court event on Thursday with a three-set victory, while Taiwan’s Latisha Chan and Chan Hao-ching reached the semi-finals of the women’s doubles.
A tight first set went to a tie-break before Giorgi recovered from a second-set whitewash to win 7-6 (7/5), 0-6, 6-4 in 2 hours, 18 minutes.
In the semi-finals, Giorgi was to play Anett Kontaveit, who came back from the brink of defeat against qualifier Viktorija Golubic to win 2-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5 after Golubic served for the match at 6-5 in the second set.
Photo: AFP
Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French Open champion, booked her place in the last four after recovering from a woeful first set to beat Daria Kasatkina.
Ostapenko won just one game in a first set where her serve was broken four times, but came back to win 1-6, 7-5, 6-2.
She was to play Elena Rybakina, who defeated Anastasija Sevastova 2-6, 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/5).
In the men’s singles, Lorenzo Sonego reached the last four with straight-sets victory over Alexander Bublik, the Italian winning 6-1, 7-5.
“I am really happy with the match, because it is not easy playing against Bublik, because he is an amazing talent,” Sonego told the ATP Tour Web site. “Especially in the second set, it was really tough, but I am happy with the match.”
“I am full of energy because I like playing here. My serve is good for the grass court and I like playing in Eastbourne,” he said. “There are a lot of Italian fans and it is good for me.”
Sonego was to play Australian Max Purcell in the semi-finals after the world No. 283 defeated Andreas Seppi 6-4, 1-6, 6-4.
That match was to start at about press time last night and was to be followed by the other semi-final between South Korea’s Kwon Soo-woo — who reached his first ATP Tour semi-final with a 6-4, 7-5 success against Belarusian qualifier Ilya Ivashka — and Alex de Minaur of Australia.
In the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles, the Chan sisters ousted Ostapenko and Coco Gauff of the US 5-7, 6-3, 12-10.
They were to play Nicole Melichar of the US and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands, who defeated US pairing Christina McHale and Sabrina Santamaria 6-4, 7-5.
In the first semi, Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Ena Shibahara were to play Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok and Makoto Ninomiya of Japan.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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