By Chris Oddo | Friday July 31, 2015
Top seeds Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Karin Knapp reached the semis at the Baku Cup.
Photo Source: Baku Cup
The top two seeds moved through with ease at the Baku Cup in Azerbaijan on Friday.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova reached her first semifinal of the year with a 6-1, 6-3 scorching of Kirsten Flipkens. The top-seeded Russian saved all four break points she faced in the 62-minute encounter to improve to 2-0 lifetime vs. Flipkens.
Second-seeded Karin Knapp claimed her seventh victory in her last eight decisions with a 6-2, 7-6(4) takedown of Alexandra Panova of Russia.
Knapp will battle 20-year-old Russian Margarita Gasparyan in the semis. The world No. 112 won 30 of 37 first-serve points against her compatriot Evgeniya Rodina to win, 6-3, 6-2, and reach her first career Tour-level semifinal.
Pavlyuchenkova will face qualifier Patricia Maria Tig in the semifinals. Maria Tig, a 21-year-old Romanian, upset Donna Vekic, 6-3, 6-2, to reach her first WTA semifinal.