No. 8 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia recorded a 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Iga Swiatek of Poland on Friday to advance to the semifinals at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.
Kudermetova, who is ranked 19th in the world, took advantage of 50 unforced errors by Swiatek to win the match in two hours, 21 minutes. She next will face face countrywoman Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who notched a 6-2, 7-5 win over fellow Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova in 89 minutes.
Also, No. 2 Jessica Pegula breezed to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over Russian Daria Kasatkina in 59 minutes. She will face Greece's Maria Sakkari, the fourth seed, who also had an easy time of it on Friday by cruising to a 6-2, 6-2 triumph over fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia of France in 79 minutes.
Ningbo Open
Top-seeded Ons Jabeur posted a 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 win over unseeded Nadia Podoroska of Argentina to advance to the finals in Ningbo, China.
Jabeur bounced back from a second-set stumble to take control of the match and claim the victory in one hour, 51 minutes. The Tunisian moved on to the final to face Russian Diana Shnaider, who notched a 6-4, 6-1 victory over fellow teenager Linda Fruhvirtova of the Czech Republic.
Shnaider, 19, recorded three aces and took advantage of five double faults by Fruhvirtova to win her match in one hour, 40 minutes and advance to her first tour-level final.
--Field Level Media
