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By Chris Oddo | Friday July 22, 2016

Dominika Cibulkova and Johanna Konta will meet in the Bank of the West Classic semifinals on Saturday.

Watch: Tomic, Troicki Confronted by Police on Citi Open Practice Courts

Konta battled past Zheng Saisai in Friday’s first quarterfinal at Stanford, after the Chinese battled back from a break down three times in the middle set to force Konta to go the distance. But the resilient Brit saved all three break points she faced in the decider to hang on for the 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 victory in two hours and 21 minutes.

The 25-year-old improves to 22-15 on the season and 14-7 on hard courts.

The British No. 1 is enjoying a fine debut at Stanford but will face a stern test on Saturday when she meets second-seeded Cibulkova. The Slovakian is playing her first event since reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and getting married just three days after her loss at SW19.

Delaying her honeymoon until after the season, Cibulkova has instead focused on cracking an important milestone.

With her 7-5, 6-0 win over No.5-seeded Misaki Doi of Japan, Cibulkova ensures a return to the Top 10 for the first time since January of 2015.

Cibulkova won 20 of 28 second serve return points and broke Doi eight times on 15 break opportunities to run away with things down the stretch.

Cibulkova defeated Konta in their only previous meeting, 7-6(6), 7-5 at Hobart this January.

Alison Riske also advanced to the semifinals at Stanford for the first time. She was leading CoCo Vandeweghe by a set when the American turned her right ankle and had to withdraw.


 

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