Former WTA Doubles Number 1 Barbora Krejcikova beat Aliaksandra Sasnovich 6-3 6-1 after 67 minutes to advance to the second WTA semifinal of her career at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz.
Krejcikova has reached her first WTA Tour semifinal since 2017, when she finished runner-up to Kiki Bertens in Nurnberg as a qualifier.
The Czech player has confirmed her good period of form this week one month after reaching the fourth round at the French Open.
Krejcikova went up a double break to race out to a 4-1 lead. Sasnovich pulled one break back, but Krejcikova reeled off eight of the final nine break points.
Krejikova dropped just six points on her first serve and converted five of the nine break points.
Krejikova will face either Aryna Sabalenka or Oceane Dodin in Saturday’s semifinal.
“I am really happy. This means a lot to me that I am even able to be here and able to play. It’s obviously very difficult with everything happening in the world right now. I am just really fortunate to be able to compete, have fun, and enjoy tennis. My ranking is improving, which is excellent for me. I have always been dreaming of being in the Top 100. I am moving even higher and higher up now, which is very prestigious for me. It was a very tough season for me, but when I was at home, I tried to put a lot of work into my tennis, physically and mentally.”, said Krejikova.
Ekaterina Alexandrova, who reached the final in Linz in 2018, cruised past Roland Garros semifinalist Nadia Podoroska 6-2 6-1 without dropping serve. The Russian player fended off one of the two break points she faced as she served for the match.
Alexandrova set up a semifinal match against Elise Mertens, who beat Veronika Kudemertova 6-4 6-1.
Alexandrova set up a semifinal match against two-time US Open quarter finalist Elise Mertens, who beat Veronika Kudemertova 6-4 6-1.
Kudemertova converted his fourth break point in the second game to take a 3-0 lead in the opening set and was two points from a 4-1 lead, before Mertens won five of the next six games to claim the opening set 6-4.
Mertens raced out to a 5-1 lead in the second set and converted her third match points in the next game.
“I tried to keep putting that one more ball in because she is a hard hitter. She has great groundstrokes but can also make mistakes so as aggressively as I tried to play, I also wanted to allow her to make that mistake”, said Mertens.
Aryna Sabalenka was leading 6-3 3-3 when French qualifier Oceane Dodin was forced to withdraw from the match due to an ankle injury.
“I slept in a little bit longer to get an extra hour, but I managed the turnaround pretty well after a slower start. From there, I played much better”, said Sabalenka.
