Rebecca Peterson vs Caty Mcnally and Camila Giorgi against Katerina Siniakova is the line-up of semifinals in Mexico's WTA 250 Merida Open.
Peterson earned her place in semis after upsetting the tournament's seed #1 Magda Linette, achieving the comfortable 6-4 6-2 win against recent Australian Open semifinalist. The Swede made a huge hold in the stunning 2nd game of the match, which was decided after 11 (!) deuces. Peterson denied all of the 8 breakpoints produced by Linette in and move into the lead after gaining a break in the next game. The world's number 140 was on the front foot in the match since then, taking the first set 6-2 and moving into double-break lead in the second. Linette managed to make up one break back, but it was quite too late, as Peterson close the match one game later. Caty Mcnally will be Peterson's semifinal opponent after defeating Kimberly Birrell 6-4 6-3.
Camila Giorgi advanced into semis after crushing Sloane Stephens 6-0 6-0 in just 48 minutes. The Italian ranked #68 in WTA list showed a stunning performance, giving just no chance for the US Open 2017 champion, who won her first two matches of the season on the road to Merida's quarterfinal. The American had a seemingly bad day with a movement on the court and struggling in all the areas against the well performing Giorgi.
The Italian will fight for the place in a final against Katerina Siniakova. The Czech eliminated another Italian player - Elisabetta Cocciaretto in three sets. Siniakova started strongly, winning the opening set 6-1. The world's number 47 was in the driver's seat in second set as well moving into a break lead three times, but Cocciaretto managed to make up the gap and force the decider. The third set was a no-show from the Italian tough, as Siniakova won all the 6 games and advanced into semis with a score 6-1 5-7 6-0.
