Gavrilova staggers into semi- final

Hong Kong, Oct. 13: Daria Gavrilova reached the semi- finals of the WTA Hong Kong Open for the second year in succession after a “silly” second- set meltdown and an errorstrewn win against teenager Lizette Cabrera on Friday.

The Australian world number 22 eventually came through 6- 1, 3- 6, 6- 4, but only after an almighty struggle with her serve, a string of unforced errors and her own state of mind.

She will play American Jennifer Brady on Saturday for a place in Sunday’s final. There was no sign of the drama to come when the 23- year- old raced through the first set 6- 1 against her fellow Australian ranked 155.

But the Russian- born seventh seed grew increasingly petulant in a second set where she committed 20 unforced errors, losing the set.

In the end Gavrilova sneaked over the line despite serving 16 double faults and having her serve broken five times.

Her opponent on Saturday, Brady, reached a WTA Tour semi- final for the first time in her career with a 7- 5, 6- 4 win over fellow American Nicole Gibbs earlier on Friday.

China’s Wang Qiang later recorded a remarkable straight sets victory 7- 5, 6- 2 against Sam Stosur after being close to retiring early due to sickness in the match.

Wang, who had been lifted by vociferous support in the southern Chinese city, went straight off to bed in the hope of recovering before facing sixth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semi- finals on Saturday.

The world number 21 cruised to a 6- 3, 6- 3 win over Japan’s Naomi Osaka, conqueror of Venus Williams in the previous round.

The teenage Osaka, ranked 64, had no answer to the power of the Russian world number 21 who took just an hour and 21 minutes to secure her place in the last four.