Second-seeded Italian Jasmine Paolini rallied to reach the semifinals of the Ningbo Open with a marathon 5-7, 7-5, 6-3 victory Friday over sixth-seeded Belinda Bencic of Switzerland in Ningbo, China.
Paolini gained momentum during the three-hour, 22-minute clash with two breaks of serve in the 10th and final game of the second set. She saved 14 of 20 break points and advanced to face No. 3 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who needed just 57 minutes to complete a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic.
The other semifinal of the WTA 500 event is an all-Russian clash between No. 4 Ekaterina Alexandrova and No. 7 Diana Shnaider. Alexandrova eliminated American McCartney Kessler 6-3, 6-3 and Shnaider came back strong for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 victory over China’s Lin Zhu in the other quarterfinal.
Japan Open
Top seed Naomi Osaka of Japan withdrew before her quarterfinal match in Osaka due to a left thigh injury, giving Romania’s Jaqueline Cristian a clear victory in the semifinals.
Osaka initially suffered the injury during a second-round three-set victory over Suzan Lamens of the Netherlands. The four-time Grand Slam winner was making her first appearance on the WTA circuit in Japan since 2022.
Cristian will face the Czech Tereza Valentova, 18, winner 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 against the Serbian Olga Danilovic, seeded n°6. On Saturday, in the other semi-final of the WTA 250 tournament, Canadian Leylah Fernandez, number 4, and Romanian Sorana Cirstea will meet. Fernandez beat Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Cirstea outlasted Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
–Field level media
