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
NO HARD FEELINGS: Taiwan’s Lin Hsiang-ti and Indonesia’s Dhinda Amartya Pratiwi embraced after fighting to a tense and rare 30-29 final game in their Uber Cup match The Taiwanese men’s team on Wednesday fought back from the brink of elimination to defeat Denmark in Group C and advance to the quarter-finals of the Thomas Cup, while the women’s team were to face South Korea after press time last night in the Uber Cup quarter-finals in Horsens, Denmark. In the first match, Taiwan’s top shuttler Chou Tien-chen faced a familiar opponent in world No. 3 Anders Antonsen. It was their 16th head-to-head matchup, with the Dane taking his fourth victory in a row against former world No. 2 Chou, winning 21-14, 13-21, 21-15 in 1 hour, 22 minutes. The
Marta Kostyuk’s maiden WTA 1000 title in Madrid came on Saturday thanks to her power, poise and a pair of unexpected lucky shorts. The world No. 23 beat eighth-ranked Mirra Andreeva 6-3, 7-5 in under 90 minutes to secure the most prestigious trophy of her career, her third professional singles title and second in less than a month after Rouen. Yet as the 23-year-old Ukrainian posed for photographs at the Caja Magica, it was not just the silverware that caught the eye. Held alongside her team and her two dogs, Kostyuk showed off a piece of black men’s underwear, prompting
Throwing more than US$5 billion at a divisive new tour and walking away after five seasons does not look like good business, but LIV Golf was not all bad news for Saudi Arabia. Oil-funded LIV, which poached top stars and sent golf’s establishment into a tailspin, helped push the conservative kingdom into global view — one of its key aims, experts said. The exit, confirmed on Thursday after weeks of speculation, does not signal a flight of Saudi money from sport, even after the Middle East war that sparked Iranian attacks around the Gulf, they said. “Saudi Arabia is not
Anastasia Potapova on Wednesday turned tennis heartbreak into history by becoming the first lucky loser to reach a WTA 1000 semi-final with her thrilling 6-1, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 victory over Karolina Pliskova at the Madrid Open, as Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei exited in the women’s doubles quarter-finals. The Russian-born Austrian, who lost in qualifying last week, has capitalized on her unexpected main draw entry and stunned former world No. 1 Pliskova in a roller-coaster clash despite squandering three match points. Potapova’s run has included impressive victories over former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko and world No. 2 Elena Rybakina. Asked if she had thought
RSS