Top seed Jessica Pegula dropped her first set before charging back for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina on Friday to make the semifinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington.
Pegula saved six of seven break points and won 39 of her 49 first-service points (79.6 percent). The fourth-ranked player in the world, Pegula is seeking her second title in Washington after winning her maiden WTA title there in 2019.
Pegula will face Maria Sakkari in the semifinals after the fourth-seeded Greek player won two matches on Friday. Sakkari earned a 7-5, 6-2 second-round victory over Canadian Leylah Fernandez in a match that was postponed Thursday night due to rain, then got past seventh-seeded Madison Keys of the United States 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.
No. 8 seed Liudmila Samsonova reached the semifinals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine. Her next foe will be third-seeded Coco Gauff of the United States, who routed sixth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 6-1, 6-2.
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No. 4 seed Linda Noskova needed a mere 54 minutes to dispatch Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-2 and reach the semifinals in her native Czech Republic.
Noskova is the final seeded player standing in the bracket. Next up, she will face Germany’s Tamara Korpatsch, who ousted No. 6 seed Alize Cornet of France 7-6 (3), 6-1.
The other semifinal match will pit Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian against Japan’s Nao Hibino. Cristian outlasted Ukrainian eighth seed Kateryna Baindl 6-4, 1-6, 6-2, and Hibino knocked out Czech foe Tereza Martincova 6-1, 6-2 in just 69 minutes.
–Field Level Media
