Americans Danielle Collins and Madison Keys are on to the semifinals of the Internationaux de Strasbourg after matching 6-1, 6-3 victories on Thursday in France.
Collins, the No. 3 seed, eased past France’s Clara Burel in 63 minutes by winning a tidy 22 of her 29 first-service points (75.9 percent). Keys, the fourth seed, defeated Magda Linette of Poland in 69 minutes, saving the only break point she faced while winning four of eight return games.
The other quarterfinal match played Thursday saw No. 5 seed Liudmila Samsonova of Russia take down No. 2 Beatriz Haddad Maia of Brazil 6-3, 6-0. Samsonova will face Keys in the semis.
The last quarterfinal is slated for Friday morning and will pit Czech No. 1 seed Marketa Vondrousova against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina. The winner will advance to play Collins.
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The last three seeded players standing in Rabat, Morocco, fell in the quarterfinals on an upset-happy day.
One day after taking down sixth-seeded Xiyu Wang of China, American Peyton Stearns knocked out No. 4 seed Lucia Bronzetti of Italy 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 in two hours and 45 minutes. Stearns stormed back from down 5-0 in the third set, saving two match points along the way, to stun the tournament’s defending champion.
Mayar Sherif of Egypt toppled No. 3 seed Sara Sorribes Tormo 6-3, 6-3, while Russian Kamilla Rakhimova took out No. 7 Elisabetta Cocciaretto of Italy 7-5, 7-5. Sherif and Rakhimova will meet in the semifinals, while Stearns will square off with Bulgaria’s Viktoriya Tomova, who defeated Germany’s Laura Siegemund 6-4, 6-3.
–Field Level Media
