Seventh seeded Anastasya Pavlyuchenkova beat Serbian qualifier Aleksandra Krunic 6-3 6-3 to get through to the semifinals of the Generali Ladies in Linz.
Krunic went up 40-0 in the fourth game but committed a double fault and faced two break points.. She saved them with her serve. Krunic earned break points in the seventh game but Pavlyuchenkova held her serve before breaking in the next game. The Russian player held her serve to love in the ninth game.
Krunic went down a break at the start of the second game. Krunic saved two break points in the third game. Pavlyuchenkova broke in the seventh game but dropped her serve at 5-2 in the second set. Pavlyuchenkova broke again on her third opportunity to close out the match.
Pavlyuchenkova set up a semifinal against Kirsten Flipkens who defeated this year’s Guangzhou finalist Denisa Allertova 6-3 6-4.
Flipkens and Allertova traded breaks twice at the start of the first set. From 3-3 Flipkens reeled off five consecutive games. After saving a break point Flipkens converted on her seventh set point while she was serving at 5-3 to wrap up the first set. The Belgian player went up a set and a break before getting a double break for 4-1 as Allertova made a double fault. Flipkens faced a break point but Allertova did convet it. Flipkens closed out on her first match at 5-4.
Pavlyuchenkova leads 2-0 in her head-to-head matches against Flipkens.
Johanna Larsson, who won her first WTA title in Bastad last July, fought back from 2-5 by reeling off five consecutive games to win the first set 7-5 against US Madison Brengle. In the second set Larsson fended off a set point before winning the second set with 8-6 in the tie-break. Larsson’s rival in the semifinal will be Anna Lena Friedsman who beat Margaryta Gasparyan 6-3 6-4. Friedsman, who reached the quarter final in Tashkent this year, was broken at 5-2 in the second set on the only break point she faced but wrapped up the match on her next service game
