By Chris Oddo | Friday August 3, 2018

 

Elise Mertens knocked off 2016 champion Johanna Konta and joined Mihaela Buzarnescu in the semifinals at San Jose.

Photo Source: Ezra Shaw/Getty

Two of the WTA Tour’s 2018 success stories will square off for a spot in the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic finals as fourth-seeded Elise Mertens and fifth-seeded Mihaela Buzarnescu rolled in straight sets to set up a rematch of this year’s Hobart final, won by Mertens.

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The Belgian, working with new coach Dieter Kindlmann for the first time this week, edged Johanna Konta 7-6(4), 6-3, but things were complicated early. She claimed a very tight first set that saw her break at love with Konta serving to take the set, then Mertens saved two set points to force a tiebreaker.

Mertens avenged a straight-sets loss to Konta at Miami this year and improved to 34-12 on the season.

She was broken in the first game of the second set but won the next four games held the rest of the way.

"I just played point-by-point, because anything can happen. I believed in myself, because it was just one break, and I was really happy that I took the first set. It was nerve-wracking at the end," Mertens said in an on-court interview with Andrew Krazny after the match.

Buzarnescu eased past Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1, 7-5 for her 33rd match win of the season. The 30-year-old has been on fire this year, and it has been quite a surprise as she entered 2018 with just three tour-level wins to her name.

Americans had mixed results in the final two quarterfinals of the day. Danielle Collins advanced when Victoria Azarenka had to retire due to a back injury. The Belarussian, who took a wild card into the event and has a ranking of 108, was leading by a set but down 3-0 in the second set when she pulled the plug. Azarenka appeared to injure her knee in the second set and things gradually fell apart from there.

Greek Maria Sakkari took down Venus Williams in the night session, 6-4, 7-6(2). The 23-year-old had lost her two previous matches to Williams but was the better player against the 38-year-old on Friday night. She fell behind 3-0 in the first set but switched tactics and committed to being more consistent against Williams.

Sakkari entered San Jose on a four-match losing streak that dated back to Roland Garros, but she has now won three straight without dropping a set.