ADELAIDE — Unseeded Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia bounced No. 1 seed Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Adelaide International semi-finals in Australia.
Alexandrova saved five of seven break points and won seven consecutive games during one stretch, improving to 3-1 against Rybakina.
Her semi-final foe will be No. 6 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia, a 7-5, 6-3 winner against Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
The other semi-final pits No. 2 Jessica Pegula and unseeded Russian Daria Kasatkina. Pegula rallied for a 6-7 (1), 7-5, 6-4 win against Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Kasatkina advanced in a walkover after Laura Siegemund of Germany withdrew before the match.
Elsewhere, two of the most promising 16-year-olds in the game needed all of their grit to survive the second round of Australian Open qualifying.
No.10 seed Brenda Fruhvirtova saved one match point en route to defeating wild card Talia Gibson 1-6, 6-3, 7-5, while Alina Korneeva fended off two against Ma Ye-Xin to triumph 5-7, 6-4, 7-6[5].
Fruhvirtova was overpowered by home hope Gibson, 19, in the first set. The Australian landed 15 winners to nine unforced errors, and Fruhvirtova managed to win just one point behind her second serve.
But the No.110-ranked Czech vastly raised her game over the course of the match, forcing Gibson into an increasing number of errors.
By the third set, Fruhvirtova was winning 61 per cent of her second-serve points; in the decider, Gibson struck 15 winners again, but this time they were outweighed by 26 unforced errors.
Fruhvirtova still needed to save one match point serving at 4-5, but did so with a service winner. She will next face China’s Wei Sijia, who advanced via walkover after teenage wild card Melisa Ercan withdrew.
Korneeva, the reigning Australian Open junior champion, came through a tight three-setter for the second round in a row.
The World No.180 committed 68 unforced errors overall, but repeatedly showed tremendous resilience with her back to the wall, twice coming from a break down in the second set.
No.220-ranked Ma squandered double match point serving at 5-4 in the decider with a double fault and netted forehand; Korneeva needed no further encouragement to raise her level, finding five of her 38 winners in the match tiebreak to claim victory in 2 hours and 52 minutes. Korneeva will next play No.11 seed Anna Bondar.
No.2 seed Renata Zarazua also came through a 2-hour, 52-minute marathon after needing eight match points to quell Jule Niemeier 6-4, 5-7, 7-6[10].
The World No.98, who this week became just the second Mexican woman to crack the Top 100, held her first two match points at 5-0 in the third set on Niemeier’s serve.
The former Wimbledon quarter-finalist had struggled with her serve throughout, committing 10 double faults in total, but managed to stave both off with superb volleys.
That started a run of six straight games for Niemeier, who served for the match herself at 6-5 — only for errors to creep back in, conceding that game on a netted drop shot attempt.
The three highest seeds to fall on Day 3 were No.4 Erika Andreeva, No.12 Harriet Dart and No.13 Olga Danilovic.
Polina Kudermetova ousted Andreeva 6-3, 6-2 to edge ahead in a rivalry that dates back to juniors.
The pair had split four previous meetings, two in juniors and two in pros, with a win at each level for both.
This time, Kudermetova needed just 67 minutes, striking 24 winners in total to only 16 unforced errors and will face Fiona Ferro in the next round.
Old Dominion University alumna Yuliia Starodubtseva, who was unranked this time last year, continued her rapid ascent up the rankings to defeat Dart 6-4, 6-4.
The Ukrainian will face another former college standout, Gabriela Knutson, in the final round with a Grand Slam main-draw debut on the line for both. Knutson came through 6-1, 5-7, 6-1 over Raluka Serban.
Zeynep Sonmez took another step towards becoming just the third Turkish woman, and first since Ipek Soylu at the 2017 US Open, to play a Grand Slam main draw.
The No.155-ranked 21-year-old upset Danilovic 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, sealing victory with an emphatic backhand winner — her 29th of the match. Sonmez will next face Lulu Sun in another third-round match with a first major main draw on the line; the Swiss player came through a seesaw 6-1, 1-6, 6-4 contest against Jang Su-Jeong.
