Daily Times

ADELAIDE: World number eight Daria Kasatkina stumbled to close out the match but progressed to the semi-finals of the Adelaide International 2 with a 6-3 7-6(3) win over Petra Kvitova on Thursday. Twice Wimbledon champion Kvitova was at her most erratic, spraying 42 unforced errors over the court, but still managed to save two match points and hold for 6-6 in the second set at the Australian Open warm-up. The hurricane never arrived and Kasatkina sealed the victory in the tiebreak to move on to a last-four clash against Spain’s Paula Badosa, who later beat Brazilian Beatriz Haddad Maia 7-6(5) 7-5 in her quarter-final. Kasatkina, a top 10 player four years ago before plummeting down the rankings and almost giving up the sport, said she was looking to maintain her consistency after finishing 2022 well and making a decent start to the new season. Sofia Kenin has experienced the ups and downs of tennis like few others since winning the Australian Open in 2020 and she continued to show signs of progress in the quarter-finals of the Hobart International. Now ranked 143rd in the world after illness, injury and off-court issues blighted her last three seasons, the American came from behind to beat Ukrainian Anhelina Kalinina 4-6 6-3 6-0. Kenin, who won the tournament in 2019, will play Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the semi-finals after the Italian saved two match points on her way to a 5-7 7-6(8) 6-4 win over American sixth seed Bernarda Pera.