Victoria Mboko, the tournament’s top seed, dominated her first-serve opportunities by winning 24 of 29 points (82.8%) en route to defeating seventh-seeded Leylah Fernandez 6-4, 6-4 in a matchup between two Canadian players at the Internationaux de Strasbourg tournament in France on Thursday.
Service struggles plagued both competitors throughout the match, with Mboko recording five double faults while Fernandez committed eight. Mboko’s next opponent in the semifinals will be Jaqueline Cristian from Romania, who defeated Australia’s Daria Kasatkina in a three-set battle 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2.
In other semifinal action, Emma Navarro staged a comeback to defeat China’s Shuai Zhang 2-6, 7-6 (5), 6-2. Navarro will square off against compatriot Ann Li, who secured her first clay-court semifinal appearance by defeating Czech eighth seed Marie Bouzkova 6-3, 7-5.
At the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem tournament in Rabat, Morocco, Croatia’s sixth-seeded Petra Marcinko dominated her first-serve points, winning 30 of 38 (78.9%) in a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain’s second-seeded Jessica Bouzas Maneiro to advance to the semifinals.
After falling behind 3-1 in the second set, Marcinko mounted a comeback by claiming five of the following six games to secure the match. Her semifinal opponent will be Switzerland’s Jil Teichmann, who survived three match points to defeat Morocco’s home favorite Yasmine Kabbaj 6-1, 5-7, 7-6 (6).
The other semifinal will feature Hungary’s seventh-seeded Panna Udvardy against Ukraine’s Anhelina Kalinina. Udvardy advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Colombia’s Camila Osorio, while Kalinina eliminated Hungarian fifth seed Anna Bondar 6-4, 7-5.
