French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko defeated Wimbledon champion and world No. 1 Garbiñe Muguruza, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, to reach the semifinals of the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open Thursday. The win was Ostapenko’s first over a reigning WTA world No. 1, extending her winning streak to eight matches in a row. Ostapenko hit 29 winners against Muguruza, whom she defeated in one hour and 57 minutes to improve her 2017 three-set record to 19-7.
Muguruza dominated the first set but Ostapenko bounced back in the second set, taking a 3-1 advantage. However, she lost the lead but recovered just in time behind two service breaks to level the match at one set apiece.
After a medical timeout on her nagging left thigh injury, Muruguza started confidently but Ostapenko had other things in mind, using her strong groundstrokes to keep Muguruza on the run en route to victory. For a spot in the final, Ostapenko will take on unseeded Ashleigh Barty, who defeated former No. 1 Karolina Pliskova, 4-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(2). Ostapenko said she expects an exciting match against Barty, whom she played in Rome earlier this year.
Maria Sakkari, Caroline Garcia seal semifinal showdown
World No. 80 Maria Sakkari booked a spot in the semifinal after beating Alizé Cornet for the second time this year, 7-6(2), 7-5, in their quarterfinal clash. Sakkari earlier eliminated world No. 42 Cornet in the Australian Open.
Sakkari emerged from the qualifying phase of the event to reach the main draw, where he defeated fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Vesnina. Sakkari will next take on Caroline Garcia, who defeated Ekaterina Makarova 7-6(3), 6-4. Before reaching the quarterfinal, Garcia eliminated former world No.1 Angelique Kerber, Christina McHale, and seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova.
Timea Babos beats Stefanie Voegele in Uzbekistan
Second seed Timea Babos survived a tough challenge from Stefanie Voegele en route to a straight-set win to reach the Tashkent Open semifinals. Babos needed one hour and three minutes to send Voegele packing and seal her semifinal round showdown with 19-year-old Aryna Sabalenka, a three-set winner over Kateryna Kozlova.
Sabalenka reached her first career WTA semifinal while Babos made it to her third semifinal of the year.
Meanwhile, the quarterfinal showdown between No. 6 seed Aleksandra Krunic and Vera Zvonareva of Russia was postponed due to rain. Krunic was leading Zvonareva, 3-2, in the opening set when the delay happened. The Krunic-Znovareva showdown, along with the quarterfinal clash between Kurumi Nara and Kateryna Bondarenko, will be played Friday.
