Agnieszka Radwanska is the only seeded player remaining at the Shenzhen Open as she breezed past Qiang Wang of China but Hungarian Timea Babos ended Eugenie Bouchard’s run. American Alison Riske and German Anna-Lena Friedsam will join Radwanska and Babos in the semifinals on Friday.
Top seeded Radwanska defeated Wang, ranked 110, in slightly over an hour (6-3,6-2) winning 72% of her service points and converted of three of four break point opportunities. The Pole continues her great form following an excellent fall in 2015: titles at the WTA Finals, Tokyo and Tianjin. Radwanska will play Friedsam in the semifinals, their first meeting. Friedsam, ranked 95, got past Czech Katerina Siniakova, ranked 102, in three sets: 6-4, 2-6, 6-1. Friedsam’s best result in 2015 was reaching the final at Linz last October. She is seeking her first WTA tour level title.
Eugenie Bouchard, the sixth seed, lost to Babos in straight sets: 6-4, 6-4. The Canadian failed to take advantage of five breakpoint chances in the match. Bouchard was named WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2013 and followed that with an excellent 2014, reaching the final at Wimbledon and the semifinals at the Australian and French Opens. The Canadian also earned her sole WTA title in 2014 at Nürnberg, an International level event. She reached her highest ranking of 5 in October 2014. After reaching the quarterfinals at the Australian Open in 2015, the rest of year was disappointing for Bouchard, often exiting in the early rounds. Shenzhen was only her second tournament after she suffered a concussion at the U.S. Open (Bouchard retired in the first round at Beijing last October). Recently, Babos won the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger in November 2015. She is currently ranked 70.
Babos will face Riske, ranked 97, in the other semifinal on Friday. Riske bested Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in three sets: 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Riske reached the semifinals at Hobart and Nottingham in 2015. She holds one WTA title – Tianjin in October 2014. Babos has defeated Riske in both of their previous meetings.
