Russian second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova on Thursday beat defending champion Linda Noskova 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-2 at the Monterrey Open to secure her place in the semi-finals of the US Open tune-up event.
Alexandrova, 14th in the world rankings, started the decider brightly after two tightly contested sets and while Czech Noskova fought back to level at 2-2, the Russian regained control to seal the victory in just over two hours at the WTA 500 event.
“I’m really glad that I could make it through, even in three sets, because it was difficult today — she served so well, she hit so hard from the baseline that sometimes there was nothing I could do,” Alexandrova said.
Photo: EPA
Next up for Alexandrova is Marie Bouzkova of the Czech Republic, who carved out a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 win over Croatia’s Antonia Ruzic.
Russian Diana Shnaider also progressed to the semi-finals after fighting back from a set down and saving five match points against Elise Mertens to triumph 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/4) in a three-hour encounter with the Belgian fifth seed.
“Very happy, satisfied and proud to get the win today. I think the level of tennis was huge today,” the third seed said.
World No. 22 Shnaider next faces Alycia Parks after the American beat Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 7-5.
Shnaider holds a 2-1 record against Parks, including a straight-sets victory at Indian Wells, California, earlier this year.
“I’ve played her a couple of times — she’s a great player. I keep telling my self to stay within myself and not really worry about my opponents,” Shnaider said.
In Cleveland, Ohio, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Jiang Xinyu of China advanced to the final of the women’s doubles at the Tennis in the Land tournament by rallying from a set down to defeat Chinese duo Xu Yifan and Yang Zhaoxuan 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 10-3.
The second seeds converted two of seven break points and took advantage of their opponents’ eight double faults.
In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Sebastian Korda stepped up his comeback with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Miomir Kecmanovic to reach the semi-finals.
The 25-year-old American, out of action since Roland Garros because of a stress fracture in his right shin, improved to 2-1 against the Serb as he builds up to the US Open.
“I think it was a great match,” said Korda, through to the last four for the first time since reaching the final in Adelaide, Australia, in January.
“I thought I executed pretty well, came to the net quite a bit and tried to stay aggressive. Miomir is an unbelievable returner, so a high first-serve percentage was crucial today and I think I served pretty well,” he said.
Korda, seeded 11th, next faces Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, who beat Spain’s Jaume Munar 7-5, 6-3.
France’s Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard battled back in the first set then pulled away for a 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 victory over Serbia’s Hamad Medjedovic to book his semi-final berth.
Ninth seed Mpetshi Perricard trailed 1-5 in the first-set tiebreaker, saving four set points as he pocketed the set.
The 22-year-old dominated in the second, finishing with 15 aces to line up a meeting with either China’s Bu Yunchaokete or Botic van de Zandschulp of the Netherlands.
Van de Zandschulp led Bu 6-3, 4-3 when rain halted their quarter-final and play was suspended for the day.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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