Semi finals day in the Toyota Thailand Open and the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy tournaments in Hua Hin and St Petersburg respectively.
Hua Hin
Semi Finals
Ajla Tomljanovic (6) v Tamara Zidansek
Not having dropped a set in the tournament to this stage, Tomljanovic opened the semi final by breaking the Zidansek serve, and winning 15 of 16 points on her first serve. She maintained the break throughout the first set, taking it 6-4.
Set two was more decisive, the sixth seed racing to a 4-0 lead. Zidansek finally held serve to register on the scoreboard, but at 1-5 needed to repeat that to stay in the match.
Tomljanovic stepped it up, however, returning serve with some of the best shots of the contest, the final winner a fitting finish to a 6-4 6-1 entree to the final.
This will be the fourth final of the Australian’s career, and her second in Thailand, the previous being in Pattaya City in 2015.
Maybe 2019 will bring the first title win for Ajla.
Dayana Yastremska (8) v Magda Linette
18 year old Yastremska is set for big things on the WTA tour. Already ranked in the top 50, and with a title under her belt (Hong Kong - September 2018), Dayana has made the quarter finals or better at three of the four tournaments contested since Hong Kong. The one exception was a third round loss to Serena Williams at the Australian Open, hardly a disgrace.
A win over top seed Muguruza here in the quarter finals confirmed the potential of the Ukrainian teenager, and she continued her winning run against Poland’s Magda Linette.
It wasn’t plain sailing though, having to save four break points in the opening set, before breaking the Linette serve in the final game for a 6-4 lead.
Then down an early break in set two, Yastremska used all her resources to storm home and win her way into the final 6-4 6-3.
St Petersburg
Semi Finals
Donna Vekic (8) defeated wildcard Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-2
Kiki Bertens (2) defeated Aryna Sabalenka (4) 7-6(5) 6-2
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