China’s Qinwen Zheng proved her title credentials by defeating top seed and world No 8 Daria Kasatkina to storm into the semi-finals of the Mubadala Abu Dhabi Open.
Just 48 hours after knocking out fifth seed Jelena Ostapenko, Zheng produced another fine performance against Kasatkina.
The Chinese youngster dropped only three games to secure her place in the last four with a 6-1, 6-2 victory against Kasatkina.
Her confidence soared as the match progressed, and while Kasatkina tried to find her rhythm, she could do little to disrupt Zheng’s charge. At 5-2 up, Zheng converted her second match point to progress in the tournament presented by Abu Dhabi Sports Council.
It was Zheng's third career victory over a top-10 player following last year’s wins against Ons Jabeur in Toronto and Paula Badosa in Tokyo.
After the win, Zheng said: “I’m really happy with my performance. I played good tennis and was aggressive. It wasn’t easy as she’s a very consistent player and I am happy to have given my best. It doesn’t matter who I face next because it will be a very difficult match.”
Meanwhile, second seed and World No 9 Belinda Bencic beat USA’s Shelby Rogers 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, to set up a last-four clash against sixth seed Beatriz Haddad Maia.
Maia recovered from a set down against third seed Elena Rybakina to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.
Speaking after the match, Bencic said: “I’m very happy to come through this match. It wasn’t the prettiest of matches but I was happy to win the first set after a tight tie-break, I stayed focused until the end of the match.”
Zheng will play eighth seed Liudmila Samsonova who won 6-3, 6-3 against fourth seed Veronika Kudermetova late on Friday night.
