Paula Badosa (Spain) qualified for the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 China Open after defeating the local sensation Shuai Zhang (China) by 2-0 (6:1, 7:6) in 1:5 hours of play.
The Spanish tennis player, who is 15th-seeded in the tournament, faced a tough second set with a lot of reversals, but succeeded to win and close the match in tiebreak. The first set started perfectly for Paula Badosa, breaking twice and taking a lead of 4:0. Shuai Zhang won her next service game, but Paula Badosa served perfectly to win for 5:1 on zero and broke again to lose the set at 6:1 for only 24 minutes.
Shuai Zhang woke up in the second set and started with a break to lead by 2:0. She kept her lead until 3:1, but Paula Badosa rebreak and equalized to 3:3. None of the both players succeeded to break or receive a breakpoint by the end of the set and it entered into a tiebreak. Both payers exchanged two breaks in the beginning of the tiebreak to 2-2, but after that Paula Badosa made two pints in a row to lead by 4-2. Although Shuai Zhang equalized to 4-4, her opponent scored the next three points and won the tiebreak by 7-4.
In the semi-finals, Paula Badosa will face he winner between Yulia Starodubtseva (Ukraine) and the fourth-seeded Cori Coco Gauff (USA).
