By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Friday September 13, 2019
Kristina Mladenovic battled past World No.3 Elina Svitolina, 6-4 4-6 6-3, on Friday at the Zhengzhou Open to reach the semifinals. The Frenchwoman notched her third Top 10 victory over the season and outlasted the Ukrainian, who was playing her second three-setter of a busy Friday.
A washout on Thursday forced many into double-duty on Friday in Zhengzhou, and Mladenovic and Svitolina did not complete their two hour and 44-minute encounter until after 1 AM.
Mladenovic reaches her first semifinal of 2019 after falling short in her first five singles quarterfinals.
The 26-year-old World No.49 will face No.7-seeded Petra Martic in the semifinals.
Martic defeated Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 5-7 6-4 to reach the semis.
Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova also marched through double-duty on Friday, with wins over Polona Hercog (6-3 7-5) and Sofia Kenin (6-4 4-6 6-1) to reach her sixth semifinal of 2019.
"To play two matches in a day, it's never easy, but in the first one, I was lucky enough to not go to a third set, just finished quickly and saved some power for the next one," World No.2 Pliskova said after the match, according to WTATennis.com. "I think I played good tennis in both matches. I was serving well today, a lot of aces, which always helps, and there's a lot of positive things for tomorrow."
Pliskova will face Ajla Tomljanovic, who defeated No.3-seeded Kiki Bertens and China’s Zheng Saisai on Friday.
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