Veronika Kudermetova topples No. 2 Iga Swiatek in Tokyo, Jessica Pegula advances

TOKYO (AP) — Eight-seeded Veronika Kudermetova upset No. 2 Iga Swiatek 6-2, 2-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open on Friday.

It was the No. 19-ranked Kudermetova's first career win over Swiatek in five attempts. The Russian now advances to her sixth semifinal of the year where she'll meet compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who earlier beat Ekaterina Alexandrova 6-2, 7-5.

"I tried to just believe that I can beat her," Kudermetova said. "Today it happened. I'm really happy that I managed to switch (the head-to-head) and win one match."

Second-seeded Jessica Pegula made light work of her quarterfinal against sixth-seeded Daria Kasatkina, winning 6-1, 6-0 in just 59 minutes to advance to her seventh semifinal of the year.

Pegula will next take on fourth-seeded Maria Sakkari, after the Greek extended her winning streak to a career-best seven matches with a 6-2, 6-2 win over fifth-seeded Caroline Garcia.

Pegula has played Sakkari on eight previous occasions, with Sakkari leading 5-3.

Top-seeded Ons Jabeur overcame a mid-match stumble to beat Nadia Podoroska 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 to advance to the final of the Ningbo Open and a shot at her fifth career title.

The seventh-ranked Jabeur, a three-time Grand Slam finalist, will meet Diana Shnaider after the 19-year-old Russian beat fellow teenager Linda Fruhvirtova 6-4, 6-1. It will be Shnaider's first tour-level final.

Up a set, Jabeur's momentum stalled after an awkward jump into a backhand winner early in second set. With her movement visibly limited, Podoroska won the next six games to level the match. But after a medical time-out at the end of the set, Jabeur regained the ascendancy to book a place in Saturday's final.

At the Astana Open, fourth-seeded Jiri Lehecka advanced to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over Egor Gerasimov.

Sixth-seeded Adrian Mannarino outlasted Alibek Kachmazov 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 and Hamad Medjedovic beat Alexander Shevchenko 6-4, 6-4 to also advance to the quarterfinals.

Fourth-seeded Sebastian Korda defeated Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (5), 6-7 (4), 6-4 and Sebastian Ofner beat Marton Fucsovics 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 in first round matches.