The WTA tournaments in Mexico and Tunisia are now in the semi-finals after Friday’s action…
There are a lot of things I am proud of this week. Just coming out here and competing and giving myself the chance to do well this week, I’m all round really proud of myself. Olivia Gadecki
Monastir | WTA 250 Jasmin Open by Lilas
Britain’s Sonay Kartal is set for a new career-high ranking after reaching her first WTA Tour semi-final at the Jasmin Open in Tunisia on Friday.
The 22-year-old beat Ukraine’s Yuliia Starodubtseva, 7-6(4) 6-2, to set up a meeting with Germany’s Eva Lys in the Last 4.
Kartal was a break down in the opening set before winning it on a tiebreak, and then took control of the match, beating an opponent who had beaten her in the final round of US Open qualifying just a few weeks ago.
Brighton’s Kartal, the British No 4, reached the 3rd-round of Wimbledon earlier this year, and her run in Monastir means she will move inside the world’s Top 130 after she made her first WTA quarter-final and semi-final this week.
Eva Lys demonstrated great sportsmanship at set point up on Zeynep Sonmez, after the Turk’s backhand winner was called in by the line judge, and then over-ruled by the umpire, who called it out.
The decision could have sealed the set for Lys, but the German called the shot good, and she then converted her 2nd set point 2 points later.
Lys moved on to seal her spot in the semi-final against Kartal, 7-5 6-3.
Rebecca Sramkova from Russia came from 2-0 down in the second set, and 5-3 down in the third, to defeat Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo, saving match points in the 3-hour, 22-minute win, and putting her into her first WTA semi-final.
Her opponent in the Last 4 is Lucia Bronzetti, the 7th seed from Italy, who dropped just 3 games against Croatian qualifier Antonia Ruzic, 6-2 6-1, in their quarter-final to reach her first tour-level semi-final since Bad Homburg 2023, 15 months ago.
Camila Osorio reached the semi-final of the WTA 500 Guadalajara Open Akron with a win over Kamilla Rakhimova on Friday
© Ulises Ruiz/AFP via Getty Images
Guadalajara | WTA 500 Guadalajara Open Akron presented by Santander
Colombia’s Camila Osorio booked a spot in the Guadalajara Open Akron semi-finals with a 7-6(6) 6-2 win over Kamilla Rakhimova from Russia on Friday, and, for a spot in the final, she will meet Australian qualifier Olivia Gadecki, who got past Italy’s Martina Trevisan, 6-2 3-6 6-1.
The other semi-final will see Poland’s Magdalena Frech, who ended Canada’s Marina Stakusic’s run, 6-4 6-3, meet Caroline Garcia, the 4th seed, after the Frenchwoman received a walkover from 6th-seeded Czech Marie Bouzkova.
Osorio’s win sees the World No 80 become the first Colombian to reach the semi-finals at a WTA 500 event, and she is now just two wins away from her 2nd title of the season, having won her 2nd Bogota title on home ground in April.
On Friday, Osorio needed to hold off a surging Rakhimova in the opening set, staving off a set point at 6-5 in the tiebreak before clinching the set after a 62 gruelling minutes.
The Colombian had an easier time in the second, ending the Russian’s hot run in Mexico, where she won the title at the WTA 125 event in Guadalajara last week, and was on a 7-match winning streak.
Osorio, a former Top 35 player, made it into the Last 4 after nearly being eliminated on Wednesday when she was 0-5 down in the third set against another Russian, No 7 seed Veronika Kudermetova, before winning 7 games on the trot for the upset.
In the semi-final, Osorio will have her first meeting with qualifier Olivia Gadecki, the 22-year-old Aussie, who continued her break-through week at tour level with a 3-set win over Martina Trevisan, a former former Top 20 player from Italy.
The World No 152 was contesting her first career WTA quarter-final on Friday, having stunned the No 2 seed, American Danielle Collins, ranked 11, on Wednesday for her second career Top 20 win.
It took Gadecki an hour and 48 minutes to eliminate Trevisan, winning 83% of her first-serve points and converting 4 of her 6 break points.
Her rise in the rankings almost guarantees Gadecki, who is of Ukrainian decent and has 5 brothers, will earn direct entry into a major for the first time next January at the Australian Open, where she reached the 2nd-round in 2023, while she also is set to become the new Australian No 1 over the coming weeks.
“There are a lot of things I am proud of this week,” she said. “Just coming out here and competing and giving myself the chance to do well this week, I’m all round really proud of myself.”
Meanwhile, Caroline Garcia moved into the Last 4 for the second year in a row, this time without hitting a ball after receiving a walkover Marie Bouzkova, who withdrew from their scheduled quarter-final match, and she now will face Magdalena Frech for a place in the final.
Fran Jones beat 19-year old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva to advance to the semi-finals of the WTA 125 tournament in Ljubljana
tenis-slovenija.si
WTA 125 | WTA 2024 Zavarovalnica Sava Ljubljana
In Slovenia, Britain’s Fran Jones beat 19-year old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva from Andorra, ranked 181, on Friday, 6-3 6-4, to advance to semi-finals of the WTA 125 tournament in Ljubljana.
For a place in Sunday’s final, Jones will take on Jil Teichmann, after the Swiss eventually got past wild-card Kristina Dmitruk from Belarus, 5-7 6-4 7-6(1).
In the second semi-final, Spain’s Nuria Parrizas Dias, the No 2 seed and favourite for the title, will meet 3rd-seeded Olga Danilovic from Croatia on Saturday.
Parrizas Diaz was a 6-1 7-5 winner over Italian Nuria Brancaccio, while Danilovic defeated Ella Seidel, the 5th seed from Germany, 7-6(8) 6-3.
