Karolina Muchova (Czech Republic) advanced to the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 China Open tennis tournament in Beijing with a prize fund of 8.9 million USD.
In the quarterfinals, Karolina Muchova prevailed over the top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) by 2-1 (7:6, 2:6, 6:4) in 2 hours and 48 minutes of play, thus ending the streak of the Belarusian of 15 consecutive wins, which began in August.
Karolina Muchova made an impressive turnaround at the end of the match, as she was twice behind with a break in the third set. However, she took the last four games of the match to record her third win over Aryna Sabalenka.
The Czech tennis player, who is currently No 49 in the world ranking, had to save two set points in the first set, in which there were no breaks. Aryna Sabalenka was very close to one in the tenth game, but Karolina Muchova saved both opportunities in front of her opponent to close the set. In the tiebreak, the former Roland Garros finalist led with 5-3 points and won by 7-5.
For Aryna Sabalenka, the best was the second set, in which she made two breaks and won it 6:2. The Belarusian controlled the game for long periods in the third set, but eventually suffered a reversal as Karolina Muchova reached her third semi-final in seven tournaments since returning to the court after surgery on her right wrist.
In the semifinals, the Czech player will face Olympic champion Qinwen Zheng (China). The 5th-seeded Chinese player team eliminated the 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva (Russia) by 2-1 (5:7, 6:0, 6:4) in two and a half hours on the court, after recovering from a 2:4 game deficit in the third set and reaching a turnaround with a streak of four games in a row.
With the success, 21-year-old Qinwen Zheng, ranked seventh in the world, reached her debut semi-final at a WTA 1000 tournament. She will also try to become the first Chinese woman to win the competition in Beijing.
In the other semi-final, Paula Badosa (Spain) will face Cori Coco Gauff (USA).
