American Claire Liu won her first-ever match over a Top 10 player, defeating top seed and home favorite Ons Jabeur 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at the Jasmin Open Monastir in Tunisia on Friday.
Jabeur can hang the loss on her service game. She didn’t hit any aces, struck seven double faults, had just a 52 percent first-serve percentage and was broken six times in seven chances by Liu.
The win sends Liu to the semifinal round, where she’ll face Elise Mertens of Belgium, the fifth seed. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed Veronika Kudermetova of Russia and No. 3 seed Alize Cornet of France.
Mertens eliminated Japan’s Moyuka Uchijima 6-0, 3-6, 6-4. Kudermetova dropped Diane Parry of France 6-4, 6-1, and Cornet defeated Slovenia’s Tamara Zidansek 7-5, 7-6 (7).
Agel Open
Top seed Iga Swiatek of Poland topped Caty McNally 6-4, 6-4 to move into the semifinals in Ostrava, Czech Republic.
Swiatek saved nine of 11 break points and converted four of 10 against McNally, ranked No. 151 in the world.
Next up for Swiatek will be Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia, who beat Czech Tereza Martincova 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.
Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan topped another Czech, Petra Kvitova, 7-6 (5), 6-4 to reach the other semifinal. She’ll face home-country favorite Barbora Krejcikova, a 7-6 (7), 6-3 winner over Alycia Parks.
–Field Level Media
