No. 2 seed Angelique Kerber of Germany advanced to her first semifinal on clay since 2016 with a three-set win against No. 8 Magda Linette of Poland on Thursday at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France.
Kerber converted four of nine break points in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 victory in two hours and 11 minutes. Her opponent in Friday’s final four will be unseeded Frenchwoman Oceane Dodin, who eliminated ninth-seeded Viktorija Golubic of Switzerland 6-3, 6-0 in just 61 minutes.
Top-seeded Karolina Pliskova fought off Belgium’s Maryna Zanevska 6-4, 7-6 (6) on the other side of the bracket as she looks to become the fourth Czech champ in Strasbourg. Pliskova, who saved four set points in the tiebreak, will face unseeded Slovenian Kaja Juvan. Juvan knocked off No. 4 Elise Mertens of Belgium 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Morocco Open
Unseeded American Clair Liu defeated Australia’s Astra Sharma 6-4, 6-1 in the quarterfinals in Rabat, Morocco. Liu will face No. 5 seed Anna Bondar of Hungary in the semifinals.
Bondar was leading 5-1 when No. 2 seed Ajla Tomljanovic of Australia was forced to retire with an injury. She was playing with her right thigh taped and her status for the upcoming French Open is unknown.
The other semifinal matches a pair of unseeded Italians. Lucia Bronzetti outlasted No. 3 seed Nuria Parrizas-Diaz of Spain 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (5) and Martina Trevisan defeated No. 7 Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands 7-6 (4), 6-3.
–Field Level Media