Tennis News: Aryna Sabalenka overcomes Zhang Shuai to enter the Cincinnati Open Semifinals

Sabalenka has won four times against Zhang out of the five meetings they have had. It took the former one hour and 49 minutes to secure her second win against the Chinese this season. 

Sabalenka rallied from a breakdown to win the first set after 4-3 and was met the same fate four times in the second set. 

Zhang then served for the second set at 5-4 but was broken to love as she lost seven straight points in the tiebreak. Sabalenka saved two break points at 5-5 and exhibited some of her best tennis.

Sabalenka struck 43 winners against 31 unforced errors, and Zhang secured 15 winners against seven unforced errors. Sabalenka will compete for her third final of the season. 

She was a runner-up at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and the Libema Open on grass. She will now face Caroline Garcia in the semifinals.

Caroline Garcia thrashes Jessica Pegula in comfortable two-setter

Caroline Garcia dominated her quarterfinal encounter against Jessica Pegula on Friday and won the match in straight sets, 6-1, 7-5, to enter the semifinals.

Pegula outclassed 10th seed Emma Raducanu in the third round, but Garcia, a qualifier, defeated Elise Mertens to cruise into the quarterfinal. Seventh seed Jessica Pegula had defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-7, 6-1, 6-2 in the opening round to stay in the contest.

In the second round, she took on reigning US Open champion and 10th seed Emma Raducanu who lost in straight sets to the seventh-ranked player. 

Pegula had a shaky start to the year tainted by early defeats at Gippsland Trophy and Sydney International. At the Australian Open, she became a quarterfinalist but lost to Ashleigh Barty in straight games.

She recently made it to the semifinals at the Miami Open and the Canadian Open. Her best-ever career run was at the Madrid Open so far, where she was a runner-up to Ons Jabeur.

Caroline Garcia, on the other hand, had to play the qualifiers to reach the main draw at Cincinnati Masters. She was in the second spot in the qualifiers and won two three-setters.

After entering the main draw, she thrashed Petra Martic in straight sets in the opener and bested fourth seed Maria Sakkari in a three-setter next.

She edged past Elise Mertens 6-4, 7-5 to reach the quarterfinal. Garcia's terrific form landed her the Poland Open in late July this year. She bested 10th seed Emma Raducanu in the second round at Wimbledon 2022. 

Her Major campaign on grass ended in the fourth round, where Marie Bouzkova defeated her. Garcia clinched the Bad Homburg Open title by dispatching Bianca Andreescu in three sets in the final.