Romania’s Sorana Cirstea hit seven aces, saved the only break point she faced and took down No. 1 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals of Tennis in the Land on Thursday in Cleveland.
Cirstea won 25 of 32 first-service points (78.1 percent) and advanced to the semis to face Russian Anastasia Zakharova, who skipped the quarterfinals via walkover against German Eva Lys.
Due to rain interruptions the past two days, the Round of 16 matches finally wrapped up Thursday. Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic upset British No. 7 seed Katie Boulter 7-6 (6), 1-6, 6-4; second seed Xinyu Wang of China rallied past Australia’s Talia Gibson 1-6, 6-2, 6-3; Ann Li won an all-American match against Iva Jovic 6-3, 2-6, 6-3; and France’s Elsa Jacquemot edged Argentina’s Solana Sierra 7-5, 7-6 (2).
Li and Jacquemot then met in the quarterfinals, where Li forged a 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 win. Wang also earned a second victory of the day when she overtook Golubic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.
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No. 3 seed Diana Shnaider of Russia saved five match points and absorbed her opponent’s 10 aces before knocking off Belgian No. 5 seed Elise Mertens 3-6, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (4) in a three-hour quarterfinal in Monterrey, Mexico.
Shnaider neutralized Mertens’ first match point in the 10th game of the second set as she forced a tiebreaker she went on to win. Then, Mertens had a 5-3, 40-love lead in the third set only for Shnaider to fend off defeat three straight points. She saved one final match point later in that game before flipping the tables and dominating a second tiebreaker.
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Shnaider’s semifinal opponent will be Alycia Parks, who handled Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova 6-2, 7-5. Parks produced nine aces and converted four of eight break points.
No. 2 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia advanced with a 7-6 (5), 4-6, 6-2 victory over No. 6 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic. Alexandrova’s semifinal foe will be the winner of the late Thursday night quarterfinal between Croatian Antonia Ruzic and Czech Marie Bouzkova.
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