Associated Press 9y

Pliskova reaches 6th semifinal of season in Linz

Tennis

LINZ, Austria -- Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic reached her sixth semifinal of the season by defeating Madison Brengle of the United States 6-4, 6-4 at the Generali Ladies on Friday.

The seventh-seeded Pliskova, who is ranked 30th, will next play Anna-Lena Friedsam of Germany, while Camila Giorgi takes on Karin Knapp in an all-Italian semifinal.

Pliskova played four finals this year and won one of them -- in Seoul last month. It was the first quarterfinal for the 96th-ranked Brengle, who had a bye in the second round after Ana Ivanovic pulled out injured.

Pliskova converted her only break point at 5-4 to take the opening set and came back from a break down twice to win the second.

Earlier, Friedsam rallied to defeat Stefanie Voegele of Switzerland 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 to advance to her first career semifinal.

The 94th-ranked Friedsam, who won three qualifying matches and beat the third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova in the first round, came back from a break down in the third set and served two aces in the final game.

Giorgi defeated Marina Erakovic of New Zealand 6-3, 7-5. The 42nd-ranked Italian dominated the opening set and recovered from losing three straight games early in the second to reach her third semifinal of the season.

The 59th-ranked Knapp defeated Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to reach her first semifinal since winning her maiden title in Tashkent last month.

Knapp overcame eight double-faults against the 44th-ranked Pironkova, who had beaten the Italian in straight sets at the U.S. Open.

Knapp failed to serve out the match at 5-3 and missed five match points in the next game before closing out the win.

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