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Kontaveit upsets Bencic; home favorite Kvitova eases into Ostrava semis

Anett Kontaveit of Estonia pulled off an upset of No.3 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland within the J&T Banka Ostrava Open quarterfinals on Friday, establishing a semifinal showdown with crowd favourite Petra Kvitova.

World No.30 Kontaveit dispatched Olympic champion Bencic, 6-4, 6-3 in simply 74 minutes to e-book her semifinal spot. Kontaveit is now 2-0 towards Bencic, having additionally defeated the Swiss within the third spherical of final yr’s Australian Open.

Stat nook: The victory over Eleventh-ranked Bencic is Kontaveit’s fourth over a Prime 20 participant this season. Kontaveit, who received her second profession WTA singles title at Cleveland simply previous to the US Open, is a win away from reaching her fourth singles remaining of 2021.

On Friday, Kontaveit performed the extra aggressive and cleaner match, with 29 winners to simply 19 unforced errors. Bencic, then again, had 12 winners to 18 unforced errors. Kontaveit received over half the factors returning Bencic’s service, which allowed her to transform 5 of her eight break factors.

Key moments: Kontaveit powered her strategy to a 5-1 lead within the opening stanza and had a set level in that recreation. However Bencic pulled off a stirring comeback, firing a winner to avoid wasting that set level, and saving one other set level at 5-3 as properly.

Bencic finally clawed each breaks again to get again on serve at 5-4. Nonetheless, Kontaveit attacked once more within the following recreation, utilizing outrageous returns to succeed in triple set level, and changing the primary of that trio.

After an early change of breaks within the second set, Kontaveit took cost for good by slamming a backhand winner down the road to interrupt for 4-2. A love maintain for 5-2 moved her one step nearer, and Kontaveit wrapped up the match two video games later with a crosscourt backhand winner.

Earlier, No.2 seed Kvitova of the Czech Republic ousted rising Jil Teichmann of Switzerland, 6-4, 6-4, to advance to the semifinals on dwelling soil.

“My household is right here, as a result of it’s like dwelling dwelling,” Kvitova instructed the press, after her win. “I used to be born 20 minutes by automotive from right here. It’s a special match, I spent each afternoon earlier than the match began with my household. It’s simply completely different mendacity in your personal mattress. My mother took care of me, made a espresso, and good snacks as properly!”

World No.42 Teichmann has already upset Prime 20 opponents six occasions this yr as she climbs the rankings. The primary of these wins came visiting fellow lefty Kvitova in Dubai by way of retirement, which was the one prior assembly between the 2.

Nonetheless, World No.10 Kvitova was capable of get a measure of revenge in entrance of excited compatriot crowds on Friday, as she swept to victory in an hour and 36 minutes. Kvitova, who received her twenty eighth profession WTA singles title earlier this season in Doha, is into her third semifinal of the yr.

Kvitova’s 24 winners within the match have been greater than double Teichmann’s 11, and the Czech got here by within the clutch when her again was towards the wall, saving seven of the eight break factors she confronted on the day.

“Even from the baseline, we performed nice rallies,” mentioned Kvitova. “I’ve to be affected person generally together with her slices, and so I couldn’t make winners immediately, so I feel it was sort of a special match right now. She was taking part in with a sort of topspin from the forehand, it was simply completely different ways. I needed to pull it out, it took me a bit bit to get used to her recreation.”

After keeping off 4 of these break factors at 2-1, Kvitova eased by the remainder of the opening set till her first probabilities on the Teichmann serve got here at 4-4. There, the house favourite attacked with highly effective play, and clinched the break after a Teichmann forehand flew lengthy. Serving for the set at 5-4, Kvitova used her trusty forehand to steer to triple set level, then attained the one-set lead by forcing an error from that wing.

Extra sturdy forehands gave Kvitova the early 2-0 lead within the second set, however Teichmann was not carried out but, accumulating her solely break of the day to instantly get again on serve. However Kvitova proved her mastery from either side at 2-2, when she used a collection of angled backhands to earn one other service break.

The Czech saved a number of break factors to get out of hazard and consolidate for 4-2, then eased to 5-4, the place she served for the match. A backhand winner gave Kvitova triple set level, and although she missed the primary with a double fault, she transformed the second with a remaining unreturnable serve.

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