TOKYO (AP) —
Rising teenager Zheng Qinwen continued her winning run at the Toray Pan Pacific tournament on Saturday, beating the sole remaining seed Veronika Kudermetova 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 (7-3) in the semifinals at the Ariake Coliseum.
In another Chinese-Russian matchup, unseeded Liudmila Samsonova overcame Zhang Shuai 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
In a match that lasted a little over three hours, Qinwen and fourth-seeded Kudermetova traded huge ground shots, big serves and plenty of errors as they pushed each other to the limits.
Qinwen, who ousted top seed Paula Badosa in the second round, had an early advantage after breaking Kudermetova in the fourth game, but the Russian player stayed on track and broke the 19-year-old Chinese in the seventh and ninth games to secure the set.