Top-seed Daria Kasatkina has succumbed to a shock quarter-final exit towards Zheng Qinwen on the Abu Dhabi Open as Belinda Bencic marched into the ultimate 4.
Kasatkina was blown away in simply 78 minutes by Zheng, who solely dropped three video games in her 6-1 6-2 upset of the world No.8.
Zheng, who defeated world No.12 Jelena Ostapenko on Wednesday, executed her serve-and-volley method expertly all through, with the 20-year-old claiming the third top-10 victory of her profession to succeed in her third tour-level semi-final.
Another Russian participant stands between Zheng and a spot within the closing after eighth-seed Liudmila Samsonova dispatched compatriot Veronika Kudermetova 6-3 6-3.
Bencic discovered type after edging a tricky first set towards qualifier Shelby Rodgers, who noticed her run ended by a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 defeat.
Second-seed Bencic will face Beatriz Haddad Maia within the semi-finals after the Brazilian rallied to beat Elena Rybakina 3-6 6-3 6-2 lower than 24 hours after beating Yulia Putintseva in a marathon three-hour encounter.
Meanwhile, high seed Maria Sakkari secured her progress to the final 4 on the Linz Open with a 6-3 7-6 (10-8) straight-sets win over Donna Vekic.
The Greek will face off with Petra Martic subsequent, whereas Anastasia Potapova faces the unseeded Marketa Vondrousova within the different semi-final.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
