THE FINAL four in each of the WTA 500 Upper Austria Ladies Linz, and WTA 250 Singapore Tennis Open have been decided after the quarter finals were completed overnight. There were a couple of surprises, but it largely went to plan with three of the four top seeds competing in the Singapore semis, while all four semi-finalists in Linz are seeds.

UPPER AUSTRIA LADIES LINZ WTA 500 – QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Karolina Muchova (CZE) defeated [6] Anastasia Potapova (RUS) 6-3 3-6 6-3
[5] Dayana Yastremska (UKR) defeated [3] Maria Sakkari (GRE) 7-5 6-0
[4] Ekaterina Alexandrova (RUS) defeated [Q] Petra Martic (CRO) 3-6 6-2 6-2
[8] Clara Tauson (DEN) defeated Anna Blinkova (RUS) 6-4 6-3

In the match of the day, fifth seeded Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska won the last eight games of the match against Greek third seed Maria Sakkari to blow away her higher ranked opponent with a second set bagel to win, 7-5 6-0. She needed an hour and 21 minutes to get the job done which iuncluded a 29-minute rout through the second set.

Yastremska hit a whopping 30 winners to Sakkari’s measly three, with the Greek former Top 10 player dropping back to her form prior to the tournament. The Ukrainian broke six times to two and was able to win 56 and 75 per cent of her second serve points, while Sakkari struggled with just four of 18 off her second serve (22 per cent) in the disappointing defeat.

The fifth seed now takes on eight seeded Dane Clara Tauson who booked her place in the semi-finals after ending the run of Russian Anna Blinkova. The unseeded Russian stunned second seed Elina Svitolina last match, but could not contain the powerfully serving Tauson who put nine aces past her among 42 winners compared to Blinkova’s 20.

In other results, top seed Karolina Muchova was made to work for her win, defeating sixth seeded Russian Anastasia Potapova in a three-set battle, 6-3 3-6 6-3. She now goes head-to-head with another Russian in fourth seed Ekaterina Alexandrova, after her semi-finals opponent came from behind to deny Croatian qualifier Petra Martic, 3-6 6-2 6-2.

SINGAPORE TENNIS OPEN WTA 250 – QUARTER FINALS RESULTS:

[1] Anna Kalinskaya (RUS) defeated [Q] Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA) 6-3 4-6 6-0
[2] Elise Mertens (BEL) defeated [6] Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) 6-4 6-2
[4] Xinyu Wang (CHN) defeated [Q] Jil Teichmann (SUI) 6-7 7-6 6-4
Ann Li (USA) defeated [WC] Kimberly Birrell (AUS) 7-6 7-6

Meanwhile across in Singapore, American Ann Li became the sole non-seeded player in the WTA 250 event there. She took out Australian wildcard Kimberly Birrell across two tiebreakers in the quarter finals. She won them 7-2 7-4 to book her place in the semi-finals, with the match lasting an hour and 48 minutes.

Li hit 32 winners to Birrell’s 21, while also only committing three more unforced errors (29-26). It enabled her to get on top of play from her second serve with a 58 per cent success rate compared to the Aussie’s 31 per cent. She also managed to stand up in the tiebreakers after both players had broken four times apiece.

The American will now step up to play top seed and tournament favourite, Anna Kalinskaya who surged clear with a deciding set bagel against Thai qualifier, Mananchaya Sawangkaew. The match was closer than many expected, with the final score 6-3 4-6 6-0.

In the other two quarter finals, second seed Elise Mertens made light work of Colombian Maria Camila Osorio Serrano 6-4 6-2 and will now face fourth seed Chinese hope Xinyu Wang after the latter fought past an epic three-set match against Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann, 6-7 7-6 6-4.