Veronika Kudermetova handed out a loss to Ons Jabeur in their quarters’ clash at the Silicon Valley Classic on Friday. The ninth seed came through 7-6(5), 6-2 in an hour and 41 minutes.
Kudermetova broke Jabeur four times across the match while dropping serve twice. She won 66% of her first-serve points and 53% of her second-serve points to the Tunisian’s 60% and 48% respectively. Kudermetova finished the match with 78 points, 30 of which were winners. In comparison, Jabeur won 69 points which included a winner count of 17.
Silicon Valley Classic: Shelby Rogers holds the fort for Americans
In the semi-finals, Kudermetova will take on Shelby Rogers at the top of the draw. The American got through against Amanda Anisimova in their quarter-final meeting, 6-4, 6-4 in an hour and 21 minutes.
Rogers ended the match by winning 89% of her first-serve points to her compatriot’s 60%. Although both players won a relatively low margin of points off their second serves, Rogers still fared better, winning 44% to the latter’s 41%. Following her win, Rogers remains the only home player left in the draw.
Daria Kasatkina posted the other upset of the day. The seventh seed took out the fourth seed, Aryna Sabalenka in their last-eight encounter. Needing two hours and 23 minutes to ensure the win turned out in her favour, Kasatkina overturned the opening set loss to finish strongly, 4-6, 7-5, 6-0.
Both players traded breaks more than once across the opening two sets. In the first set, Sabalenka conceded her serve twice before securing a third break to go up in the match. The second set saw three breaks of serve being exchanged before Kasatkina returned the favour and levelled the match after securing a fourth break in the set. The deciding set was the cleanest the victor played. Kasatkina didn’t face a single break point while converting three of the six break points she had on her opponent’s serve.
Kasatkina’s semi-final opponent at the Silicon Valley Classic will be the second-seeded Paula Badosa. The Spaniard stopped the sixth-seeded Coco Gauff, 7-6(4), 6-2 in an hour and 26 minutes.