HUA HIN: Second seed Lin Zhu of China took another step toward defending her title at the Thailand Open by defeating Australian Arina Rodionova 6-3, 6-3 in a quarterfinal match Friday in Hua Hin.
Zhu had a 5-1 edge in aces and won 22 of her 29 first-service points (76%) to ease into the semifinals. Her victory at last year’s tournament marked the first tour-level title of her career.
Her semifinal opponent will be unseeded countrywoman Yafan Wang, who rallied past American Katie Volynets 1-6, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
No. 3 seed Xinyu Wang makes it a trio of Chinese players reaching the penultimate round, as she battled past Kazakh seventh seed Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Xinyu Wang will face Russian 19-year-old Diana Shnaider, who was a 6-2, 6-1 winner over Hungary’s Dalma Galfi.
The top three seeds prevailed Friday to advance to the semifinals in Linz.
No. 1 Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia breezed past Brit Jodie Burrage 6-1, 6-2. No. 2 Ekaterina Alexandrova toppled fifth seed and defending champ Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 7-6 (8) in a battle of Russians. And Croatian No. 3 Donna Vekic beat France’s Clara Burel 6-0, 7-6 (3).
The only upset of the day prevented the fourth seed from making the semifinals all chalk. Russia’s Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated Belgian Elise Mertens 6-3, 6-2, by converting four of her six break-point opportunities and winning six straight games in the second set.
