No. 1 seed Anastasija Sevastova pushed past Sorana Cirstea, while Mihaela Buzarnescu became the lone Romanian to make the Bucharest semifinals with a topsy-turvy straight sets victory.
Sevastova was pushed against the hometown favorite and dropped the first set, but elevated her level and eventually came through 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Cirstea kept seemingly every ball in play in the first set, immediately breaking after losing an early edge, and closed out the set in style. Running back from the net, she flung a blind volley behind her, then won the set a few strokes later.
The Romanian could not stay on form, however, routinely finding the net on groundstrokes in the second set. Consecutive misses handed Sevastova her first break of the set, and she added a necessary insurance break by wearing down Cirstea in an eight-minute game.
Sevastova remained on the front foot, lacing a backhand just inside the sideline to break in the opening game of the third set. Cirstea broke back but immediately lost serve again, then wilted against the veteran Latvian in the final stages. Sevastova broke six times, winning only one fewer Cirstea service game than the Romanian herself.
Buzarnescu, meanwhile, struggled past Wang Yafan 7-6, 6-3, breaking the Chinese player five times in a match with a staggering 31 break points. Each player failed to consolidate breaks on two separate occasions, but the No. 2 seed eventually came through one more time.
She seemed primed to edge ahead late in the first set, building a 0-40 lead and holding four separate break points at 5-5, but could not convert and instead faced a tiebreak. Wang fought off a pair of set points, but Buzarnescu delivered a big serve to close out the set and go in front.
She then wore down Wang with a relentless series of forehands at 3-4 in the second set, putting her in pole position to serve out the match. She did so at love, slamming another left-handed forehand into an open court to reach the semifinals.
The Romanian will next meet No. 4 seed Petra Martic, who needed more than three hours to beat Laura Siegemund 7-5, 4-6, 6-4. Martic trailed 4-3 in the final set but stormed back, covering nearly the entire court to stab a volley past the onrushing Siegemund on her first match point.
Martic also trailed late in the first set, but won the final three games to take the frame in a match with 13 service breaks. The world No. 60 won despite saving only three of nine break points and putting 61 percent of first serves in play.
No. 8 seed Petra Martic closed the final four, defeating a tiring Ons Jabeur — who defeated Vera Zvonareva earlier in the day — 6-3, 6-1.
