By Tennis Now | Thursday, September 27, 2018
It was Monica Puig's 25th birthday, but Wang Qiang kept her victory party rolling.
The 26-year-old wild card made history as the first Chinese player to reach the Wuhan Open semifinals with a comprehensive 6-3, 6-1 conquest of Puig.
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Wang scored six service breaks in a 67-minute triumph.
It is Wang's 14th straight win on Chinese soil, following her run to the Guangzhou title last weekend.
"Today's win makes me very, very happy," Wang said. "This is the first time that I entered the semifinals at a Premier 5, so I'm really happy today.
"I'm not sure the significance to everyone. I'm just trying to do my best and put up my best performance."
It was Wang's ninth consecutive victory. She will play Anett Kontaveit for a place in the final.
Kontaveit dispatched Katerina Siniakova, 6-4, 6-4.
The Czech qualfiier upset fourth-seeded Caroline Garcia and two-time Grand Slam champion Garbine Muguruza, but Kontaveit competed with more energy throughout.
Ashleigh Barty, the lone seed still standing, out-dueled Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-2, 5-7, 6-4, to reach her second straight Wuhan Open semifinal.
The 2017 runner-up will play red-hot Aryna Sabalenka for a place in the final.
The 20-year-old Belarusian beat Dominika Cibulkova, 7-5, 6-3.
"It was not an easy match because she's moving really well and she puts a lot of balls in," Sabalenka said. "She put pressure on me. Sometimes the game was going up, sometimes down. Well, I'm so happy that I finish this match with win."