MONTERREY, Mexico (Reuters) -Russian second seed Ekaterina Alexandrova beat defending champion Linda Noskova 7-6(5) 4-6 6-2 at the Monterrey Open on Thursday to secure her place in the semi-finals of the U.S. Open tune-up event.
Alexandrova, 14th in the world rankings, started the decider brightly after two tightly contested sets and while Czech Noskova fought back to level at 2-2 the Russian regained control to seal victory in just over two hours at the WTA 500 event.
“I’m really glad that I could make it through, even in three sets, because it was difficult today — she served so well, she hit so hard from the baseline that sometimes there was nothing I could do,” Alexandrova said.
Next up for Alexandrova is Czech Marie Bouzkova, who carved out a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over Croatian Antonia Ruzic.
Russian Diana Shnaider also progressed to the semis after fighting back from a set down and saving five match points against Elise Mertens to triumph 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(4) in three-hour encounter with the Belgian fifth seed.
“Very happy, satisfied and proud to get the win today. I think the level of tennis was huge today,” the third seed said.
World number 22 Shnaider next faces Alycia Parks after the American beat Slovak Rebecca Sramkova 6-2 7-5.
Shnaider holds a 2-1 record against Parks, including a straight-sets victory at Indian Wells earlier this year.
“I’ve played her a couple of times — she’s a great player. I keep telling my self to stay within myself and not really worry about my opponents.”
The U.S. Open runs from August 24 to September 7.
(Reporting by Pearl Josephine Nazare in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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