Canada’s Leylah Fernandez, the No 3 seed, won against American Bernarda Pera, the No 9 seed, 6-1, 7-6 (7) to reach the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay on Friday.
The former US Open runner-up saved two set points in the 10th game of the second set and another one in the tiebreak before converting her second matchpoint to win. She improves to 3-0 lifetime against Pera.
Fernandez, ranked No 32 and the defending champion this week, will play Russian Diana Shnaider, the top seed, next. She has now won eight matches in a row in Hong Kong and is chasing her first title of the 2024 season.
The 22-year-old Canadian defeated Heather Watson (6-2, 6-2) and Australian Kimberly Birrell (6-1, 6-2) earlier in the week.
In the previous rounds of the tournament, Pera, ranked No 81, won against Japanese Sara Saito (6-4, 6-4) and Chinese qualifier Han Shi (6-0, 6-4).
Hong Kong WTA 250, other quarter-final results (Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, hard, USD 267,082):
- Diana Shnaider beat Suzan Lamens: 6-0, 6-7 (4), 6-2
- Katie Boulter (2) beat Anastasia Zakharova: 6-4, 6-0
- Yue Yuan (6) beat Sofia Kenin: 6-3, 6-3