CHINA’S Qiang Wang has continued her stunning run into the 2020 WTA Tour’s Miami Open fantasy tennis tournament semi-finals. The 26th seed joined top 10 players, Ash Barty, Sofia Kenin and Naomi Osaka in the last four. While many expected the top four to advance through to the semis, Qiang threw a spanner in the works by upstaging second seed Czech, Karolina Pliskova in three sets.

The Chinese talent won the first set to shock her opponent with a late break in the eighth game and then served out the set 6-3. Not to be outdone, Pliskova fought back to level the scores with a 6-4 result in the second set as the match ticked over two hours. Neither player would let up in the deciding set as Qiang applied plenty of pressure with her court coverage and shot making deep to both sides of the court. Whilst the Czech star tried her best, it was again a late break in the match, followed by Qiang serving it out to secure a memorable 6-3 4-6 6-4 victory in two hours and 48 minutes.

Qiang now takes on Osaka in the semi-finals after the number nine seed knocked out Dutchwoman, Kiki Bertens in straight sets. The Japanese Grand Slam winner looked comfortable throughout the game despite Bertens’ best efforts, with the number nine seed breaking three times to once in what was truly a game for the servers. The first set in particular lasted 70 minutes until Osaka finally saluted, and then she finished off her higher ranked opponent in just over two hours.

In the other half of the draw, world number one Ash Barty finally ended the run of unseeded Pole, Magda Linette. The top seed did not have it easy against the giant-killing Linette, forced into an 11th and 12th game in the first set before breaking her in penultimate game and holding serve to take the set. She backed it up with a similar performance in the second set, breaking midway through the set and then again in the final game of the match. Linette refused to give in, breaking Barty in that second set to return the favour, but just lacked that little bit of class the Australian had.

The final match saw Australian Open champion and number three seed in Miami, Kenin get up in three tight sets over 23rd seed, Karolina Muchova. The Czech deserved her place in the last four after knocking out Kenin’s compatriot, Serena Williams in the quarter finals, and when Muchova levelled the match at a set apiece, it was game on. Kenin found the extra gear to grab the victory however, standing up when it counted and claiming the win 6-4 4-6 6-1 in an hour and 59 minutes.

Tomorrow’s semi-finals sees Qiang and Osaka do battle first on centre court, with the winner to face either Barty or Kenin from the following match.

QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Ash Barty (AUS) defeated Magda Linette (POL) 7-5 6-4
[26] Qiang Wang (CHN) defeated [2] Karolina Pliskova (CZE) 6-3 4-6 6-4
[3] Sofia Kenin (USA) defeated [23] Karolina Muchova (CZE) 6-4 4-6 6-1
[9] Naomi Osaka (JPN) defeated [4] Kiki Bertens (NED) 7-5 6-3