WTA Budapest: Van Uytvanck, Alexandrova, Potapova and Vondrousova reach SF
The top seed Alison Van Uytvanck is through to the semi-final in Budapest after a 3-6 6-1, 6-4 win over Kateryna Kozlova in two hours and four minutes. Kozlova served at 75% although she couldn't gain much from that fact, losing half of the points in her games and suffering six breaks from 14 opportunities she gave to the Belgian. Alsion struggled big time on the second serve and she was forced to play against 14 break chances as well, saving ten of those to find herself in the semi-final. Kozlova claimed the opening set with a break in game eight, holding at love in the following game for a 6-3 and a massive momentum before the rest of the encounter.
Alison fended off four break points earlier in the second set, opening a 5-0 lead and sealing the set with a hold at 30 in game seven, entering the deciding set like a favorite, especially after she jumped into a 4-2 lead. Kateryna broke back in the eighth game to level the score at 4-4 but Van Uytvanck stayed focused, scoring the crucial break in the next game before crossing the finish line with a hold in game ten to secure the spot in the last four. The 5th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova had a great day at the office, taking down the 3rd seed Pauline Parmentier 6-3, 6-2 in an hour and 18 minutes, losing 16 points on serve and dominating on the return to control the scoreboard and the course of the match.
Pauline kicked off the encounter with a 3-1 lead before Ekaterina bounced back to win five straight games and close the opener in style, carrying the drive into set number two where she broke twice for a 3-0 advantage, bringing the match home easily from there with another break for a 5-2 and a hold at love in game eight. The 17-year-old Anastasia Potapova has stayed on the title course after a hard-fought 6-4, 6-7, 7-5 triumph over Sorana Cirstea in two hours and 50 minutes. The young Russian served at only 51%, hitting 12 double faults and repelling six out of 11 break points to limit the damage in her games.
She needed good performance on the return to erase that deficit and that was certainly the case after breaking Sorana seven times from 12 opportunities to seal the deal and move into the last four. Potapova claimed the opener with two breaks and she made a turnaround in set number two, trailing 5-3 before winning three straight games, serving for the match at 6-5. Cirstea made one last push, breaking back to set up a tie break that she won 7-5 to send the clash into a decider. There, Anastasia led 4-1 before Sorana climbed back to 4-4, fighting like a lion and falling just before the finish line, as the Russian broke her in game 12 to wrap up the win and stay in the tournament.
The 8th seed Marketa Vondrousova toppled Irina-Camelia Begu 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 in two hours and 11 minutes, dominating after the opening set and reaching the semis.
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