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Patna : World No 37 Ekaterina Alexandrova, 26, Russia, stunned top seed & World No 2 Aryna Sabalenka, 23, Belarus, in straight sets in quarter-final to reach semi-final of Kremlin Cup, a premier tournament on WTA Tour, at Moscow, Russian, on October 22, 2021. Ekaterina beat Sabalenka 6-3, 6-4 in QF.
The Russian won 4 break points during the match to just by Sabalenka. Ekaterina also won 3 games in a row during the match to 2 by the Belarusian. Ekaterina’s winning percentage both on her and second serve was much better than that of Sabalenka’s. Ekaterina though committed 4 double faults to 3 by Sabalenka. Ekaterina, in all, won 61 points during the match to 46 by Sabalenka.
World No 20 & 9th seed Anett Kontaveit, 25, Estonia, upset World No 5 & 2nd seed Garbine Muguruza, 28, Spain, in straight sets 6-1, 6-1 in quarter-final in 48 minutes winning 5 break points and 7 games in a row during the match. Kontaveit, in all, won 54 points during the match to 22 by Muguruza, the winner of two Grand Slam singles titles. kontaveit also fired 6 Aces during the match to none by the Spaniard.
World No 35 Marketa Vondrousova, 22, Czech Republic, upset World No 16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 30, Russia, in straight sets 6-4, 6-2 in QF. Marketa won 4 break points during the match to 1 by Pavlyuchenkova. Marketa also won 7 games in a row during the match to 3 by the Russian.Marketa will face Kontaveit in semi-final on October 23, 2021.
World No 7 & 3rd seed Maria Sakkari, 26, Greece, beat World No 19 & 8th seed Simona Halep, 30, Romania, in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in QF in 1hr 44 minutes. Sakkari won 5 break points during the match to 3 by Simona, the winner of two Grand Slam singles titles.The Greek served 3 Aces during the match to 1 by Simona. Sakkari won 4 games in a row in the match to 3 by Simona, who was trailing 1-5 in second set but closed the gap considerably.