Aryna Sabalenka needed two hours and five minutes to win in her quarter-final match at the Libema Open on Friday. The tournament top seed defeated Alison Van Uytvanck 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) to reach the penultimate round of the WTA event in SāHertogenbosch.
Both players won a similar percentage of points off their first serves ā Sabalenka won 72.9% of her first-serve points to Van Uytvanck winning 72.6%. However, the points each won off their second serves, eventually helped turn the match around in Sabalenkaās favour. The world no. 6 won around 54% of her second-serve points to the Belgianās 35%. Sabalenka saved two of the four break points she faced while converting three of the five break points on Van Uytvanckās serve.
For a place in the final, Sabalenka will play Shelby Rogers next. The American got past Van Uytvanckās compatriot, Kirsten Flipkens in their quarter-final match. Rogers came from a set down to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in two hours and 13 minutes.
Libema Open: Ekaterina Alexandrova’s routing finish
Rogers won 68% of her first-serve points to Flipkensā 61%. Of the two, it was, however, Flipkens who was able to get better traction off her second-serve points ā 61% to Rogersā 51%. In terms of break point conversions, Rogers faced six break points and saved four of these while converting four of the 10 break points she had on Flipkensā serve.
Meanwhile, in the bottom half of the draw, seventh seed Ekaterina Alexandrova wrapped up a 6-0, 6-1 win against Cathy McNally in just 43 minutes. Alexandrova won 83% of her first-serve points to the Americanās 35% and 72% of her second-serve points to the latterās 27%. She didnāt face a single break point on her serve and converted five of the six break point chances she had on McNallyās serve.
Alexandrova will play sixth seed Veronika Kudermetova for a chance to reach the Libema Open final. Kudermetova ousted second seed Belinda Bencic, 6-4, 6-2 in their quarter-final clash in an hour and 27 minutes.Ā